City Council adopts formal resolution
Yesterday, the Santa Clarita City Council held a special meeting to officially adopt a resolution forming an Open Space Preservation District that will allow the City to purchase undeveloped land and preserve it as open space.
[view:node_ad=5]The vote was unanimous, with Mayor Marsha McLean taking part in the meeting via an audio feed from a different location and Councilman TimBen Boydston being absent from the vote.
Money from the initiative’s passage will become available after the next year’s taxes.
The total cost to property owners will be $25 per year, with a possible maximum increase of $1 per year, for thirty years.
The money will then be used to acquire funding for the purchase of land in and around Santa Clarita.
There were some words from some residents who were opposed to the initiative. They spoke about moving forward together, and offered two pieces of advice. Number one, they said, was to look at the progress of the plan after five or ten years and consider discontinuing it if it was not meeting the resident’s expectations. Second on their list was to ask that a member of their group sit on the oversight committee for the district.
The oversight committee will act as a watchdog for the program, and currently is set up to have five seats.
Mayor McLean chimed in and asked that the City Council discuss possibly enlarging the number of seats on the oversight committee to seven in an effort to make it more balanced.