Residents flocked to the city’s open-house Thursday evening to view the initial plans and weigh in on the new Santa Clarita Town Center, which includes the Valencia mall.

The City of Santa Clarita announced its open house last week, inviting residents to come to the Carl Boyer room at City Hall to view the initial plans and provide feedback.

Comment box encourages residents to write down suggestion.

“A specific plan is a document that helps the City visualize. A good example is Old Town Newhall. Everything on Main Street is a part of the Old Town Newhall Specific Plan. We’re going to provide the same vision, but for the Town Center,” explained David Peterson, senior planner at the city’s planning division and project manager for the Town Center.  

The new plan comes as the Unibal-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) company, which owns a number of Westfield malls in the U.S. has begun selling its properties. The URW missed the deadline to pay a $195 million loan in connection with Santa Clarita’s Valencia Town Center Mall. 

Peterson made it clear that the City is not buying the Town Center or building the specific plan, which are two common misconceptions. The City is creating a plan that will then be built by private developers. 

The room was packed with residents Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. Posters of the initial plan for the Town Center were posted around the room and employees from the city’s planning division stood post to answer questions. 

A map of the area under consideration, which spans the Town Center mall, the former SCV Sheriff’s Station, and the Santa Clarita Library and Courthouse, was placed in the center of the room with sticky notes where residents could write down suggestions. 

A comment box was also in the room for residents to place their notecards in. 

“We’re trying to figure out what the vision of the plan is,” said Peterson. “We have ideas as technicians but we need to hear from the community about what they want.”

Peterson stated that all public comments and suggestions are taken in by the planning division and become part of the package that is later presented to the City Council. 

Other public meetings are expected to be held in the future regarding the Town Center Specific Plan. 

Residents view the posters of the specific plans.

Residents leave comments on notecards for the city.

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