The Canyon Theatre Guild, a non-profit arts organization, has been serving the people of the Santa Clarita for over 50 years. The CTG had a dream to build our own theatre, so that we could better fulfill our mission which is to “Make the world a better place by entertaining, enlightening and enriching our community through quality live theatre”

Years ago, the city put together a redevelopment plan to help bring people back to Newhall.  The CTG needed to locate nearer to the center of our Valley. Thanks to the help of the city and its taxpayers (who matched one dollar for each two that we raised) and the support of countless people and businesses we opened the CTG playhouse in 2000. We committed to bringing 10,000 theatre-goers in our first year. We brought 15,000.

Thanks to the city, hundreds of volunteers, business supporters, and thousands of theatre patrons, we continued to grow each year until we were serving 25,000 to 30,000 people each year. Restaurants and businesses began to open and Newhall began to became a place that people wanted to come to. What could go wrong?

The Redevelopment plan called for two large parking structures, one at each end of Newhall to accommodate the parking needs of all of the new customers. One was built, but before the second one was built (as planned) across from the CTG, the State of California killed redevelopment and any new monies that it could generate. However, the city did not change the zoning requirements to reflect the loss of the second parking structure. New high parking demand businesses are still able to locate in downtown without providing new parking.

As an example, a car repair shop that only used a few parking spaces, became a beautiful event center that hosts weddings and other events that can draw 200 people. 200 people means that that about a hundred parking spaces will be used, but no new spaces are required to be built. This has led to a severe parking shortage, especially on weekends. This has become extremely difficult for the theatre-goers of the CTG, because so many of our patrons are senior citizens that have difficulty walking.

Now the city is going to consider another giant project for the block next to the CTG which will create a parking deficit of over 100 spaces.  This will not only hurt the CTG, but all of the other businesses at the southern end of Newhall. The developers have been misleading the public into thinking that they will be helping the parking situation, by saying that they will be building 122 parking spaces. What they are not telling the public is that all of those spaces will be reserved for the apartments in their building. They are also not telling the public that they will be needing another 100 plus parking spaces for the tenants, their visitors, and the businesses in their new building. Those people will be using street parking and existing lots.

The new project is also threatening the existence of our very own hometown radio station KHTS. They will not be able to broadcast because of the noise of construction and the developer refuses to accommodate their needs.

The project is also going to tear down a historic building which is on the City’s historical registry. According to the Signal Newspaper, Santa Clarita City Councilmember Laurene Weste secretly negotiated a $750,000 pay out to the city by the developer to allow this building to be torn down. This is no way to conduct city business.

Also, the destruction of that building will destroy the longtime home of the local Alcoholics Anonymous. That organization has been saving countless lives of our local residents for many, many, years.

This is a terrible project as it is designed and only our City Council can stop it.

If you love our new old town, if you think that there is not enough parking, or if you care about one of the organizations being threatened by bad planning, please let your City Council know.

The City Council will be considering this project next Tuesday, April 22. The meeting starts at 6PM.  If you cannot make it and want to help, please write a note to the City Council or email them at [email protected]

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.