Arguments on the California Fish and Wildlife Department River permit for Newhall Land’s Newhall Ranch project will be heard by California Supreme Court Justices this September.
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The Newhall Ranch project, that would build approximately 21,000 housing units, has been a focus issue for the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, or SCOPE, for almost two decades.
The SCOPE’s concerns about validating this project is water use, loss of floodplains and groundwater recharge areas and greenhouse gases.
Newhall Land and Farming Co. claims that there will be no significant increase in greenhouse gases for the 21,000 unit project, according to SCOPE officials.
“The greenhouse gas issue is especially important as it may set a precedent for other cases in California,” said SCOPE officials.
Another concern of the SCOPE is that the habitat for many endangered species in the area would be destroyed.
“We do not quote on pending litigation,” Marlee Laffer, a spokeswoman for Newhall Land and Farming Co., told KHTS AM-1220.
The arguments will be heard on Wednesday, Sept. 2 in San Francisco.
In March 2014, a California Appellate Court ruled in favor of the Newhall Land and Farming and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in a lawsuit regarding environmental reports for a 20,000 unit development project in the Santa Clarita Valley.
The ruling unanimously reversed Judge Ann Jones’ 2012 judgment in favor of the plaintiffs– which includes the Center for Biological Diversity and the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, or SCOPE –and allowed the Santa Clara River Alteration Permit for the project to proceed.
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Did they leave out the fact the DUMP is across the 126 from all those houses and they want to expand and stay open for another 30 years or so?
I have been hearing about this project and wonder why, if we have been in a serious drought for years, this does not even phase the City or Newhall Land. WHERE WILL THE WATER COME FROM FOR 21,000 NEW HOMES. Neighborhoods can not keep their lawns green. The green belts have just begun to be converted to drip and drought tolerant plants, only because large fines could be levied. Not just the water but other environmental concerns and yet we forge onward. Money Money Money talks and common sense walks, again.