Attorneys representing Steve Kim, the owner of the Sand Canyon Country Club, are filing a lawsuit over the Santa Clarita City Council’s denial of the controversial 50-acre resort proposal on grounds of racial bias and inverse condemnation, according to the lawsuit. 

Tensions ran high at the Santa Clarita City Council meeting in question when council members unanimously denied the construction of the Sand Canyon Resort with prejudice, meaning the organizer can propose a similar project after a 12-month period, according to Santa Clarita City Attorney Joseph Montes.

“I was just totally shocked by what happened,” Kim said in an interview with KHTS. “We did everything, spent four years and almost four million dollars. The project would have had so much benefit, so many jobs, economic developments, high end five star resort amenities– I thought everyone would like the ideas. It really hurt when they didn’t.”

Throughout the proposal process, Kim spent millions of dollars renovating the current golf course under the impression that he would be backed by the City, making notable changes in an effort to appeal to both the community and the Santa Clarita City Council, according to the lawsuit.

“From the beginning, the City led Plaintiffs (Kim) to believe that Plaintiffs (he) would be able to enhance the Golf Course and make a productive and viable use of the Property,” read the lawsuit. “Plaintiffs (Kim) would not have purchased the Property or invested millions improving the Golf Course but for Plaintiffs’ (his) reasonable reliance on the City’s representations, and their distinct investment backed expectations.”

Behind closed doors, Kim reportedly had several discussions with elected and administrative representatives of the City of Santa Clarita, where they repeatedly assured Kim that his plans would be an appropriate use of the area, subject to modifications that addressed City concerns, according to the lawsuit. 

In 2018, Kim met with then-mayor Laurene Weste who allegedly supported the resort plan and the rezoning of Sand Canyon’s open-space to accommodate the resort, according to the lawsuit.

Weste later denied the project during July’s council meeting alongside the rest of the Santa Clarita City Council due to violations of open-space and limited evacuation routes during natural disasters.

City officials declined to comment on these allegations.

“The Santa Clarita City Council, in rejecting the applicant’s request for a zone change was clear in its resolution as to the reasons why,” said Alejandro “Alex” Guerrero, chair of the Stop Sand Canyon Resort Task Force. “Thankfully, that resolution and the process the applicant went through in seeking the zone change was transparent and by the book.  The City of Santa Clarita, our elected and city leadership have a track record of standing up to big corporations in court and we believe they will do the same in this case.  It feels good to have elected officials who stand up for their constituents.”

Amid the council meeting, some reasons the public used to reject the Master Case were allegedly racially motivated, with assumptions that Kim would “bus-in workers from ‘Koreatown’ and ‘China-town,’” therefore not adding Santa Clarita jobs or advancing the local economy, according to Kim.

See Related: Sand Canyon Resort Denied By Santa Clarita City Council

Kim, who had purchased the Sand Canyon Country Club amid the 2008 recession, envisioned restoring the golf course to become “an economically viable enterprise,” however, the club had been missing a steady stream of visitors, according to the lawsuit. 

During the Sand Fire in July 2016, subsequent flooding and mudslides substantially damaged a portion of the golf course, where nine unused holes were located, according to the Sand Canyon Country Club’s legal team. 

When examining the damages, Kim began looking into ways to make the golf course more profitable for the community and thus developed the Sand Canyon Resort project.

“To ensure that the Golf Course could remain viable, and to make productive use of the portion of the Property on which the nine unused holes had been located, Plaintiffs proposed to construct a resort on the unused and most damaged portion of the Golf Course,” read a statement from the lawsuit.

Many Sand Canyon residents, however, viewed the plans as a safety hazard. Those who were forced to evacuate during the Sand Fire came forward during several city council meetings to discuss the impact of increasing traffic throughout the area. 

See Related: Santa Clarita Remembers The Sand Fire Three Years Later

​​“During the Sand Fire, only one lane was left and I was one of the last to leave the canyon,” said 33-year Sand Canyon resident Dave Hauser.

Many residents claimed to be stuck in traffic for hours while attempting to evacuate their homes that had been threatened by the fire that burned 41,000 acres in two weeks, leaving several homes in the area destroyed.

The project not only posed environmental and safety concerns, but may have also violated the Grant of Open Space “in perpetuity” or “forever,” which promised homeowners open space around their homes in the area where the Sand Canyon Resort was expected to be built.

Kim, however, made several attempts to appeal to the City’s promised Grant of Open Space including the allotment of the exact 300-acres of open-space, but rezoned to properly build the resort, according to the lawsuit. 

Condition 83 of the 1996 Resolution, that promised open-space to Sand Canyon residents, stated that “the project would preserve approximately 300 acres of land into perpetuity as recreational/open space.” 

However, it did not specify that any particular land was required, according to the lawsuit.

In further efforts to appeal to the residents of the Sand Canyon community, organizers with the Sand Canyon Resort proposed additional project enhancements including:

• Allocation of at least $1.5 million towards the completion of the Sand Canyon Trail
• Limited resort activities beyond recreational golfing
• The design and construction of emergency access through Oak Springs Canyon Road

The original Sand Canyon Resort plans would expand the existing Sand Canyon Country Club to add a three-story hotel with 241 rooms, a wedding hall, 23 villas, restaurants, a spa, a minigolf course and other amenities to the facility.

“At no time prior to the filing of the Master Case, or during the initial site inspection did anyone from the City inform Plaintiffs that Plaintiffs  could not construct the Resort because of any condition in the 1996 Resolution, including Condition 83,” read the lawsuit.

Due to heavy public opposition, Kim continued to redesign the proposal by removing the planned Oak Villas and detention basin in an effort to dedicate more open space to the City of Santa Clarita and save various oak trees on the property, but regardless of the changes, the project was not approved.

Attorney’s are seeking a trial by jury to represent Kim’s case that they find “arbitrary and irrational” on behalf of the City’s actions. They are seeking no less than $250 million for attorney fees and damages as well as additional relief in favor of Plaintiffs that the Court deems just and proper.

Click here to read the full court documents, Sand Canyon Resort Lawsuit October 22, 2021

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