Wait: Make that 3 words: Managed Slow Growth.
Now that the media has decided that the economy is back in gear (and I can't fathom why it would be, with almost all new jobs produced being low-wage or part-time work) builders and Santa Clarita planners seem to be in lock-step with the goal of building out Santa Clarita as soon as possible.
What's the rush?
1.) Where's the water?
2.) Where's the infrastructure? The existing roads need fixing, along with needed new roads.
3.) Where's that damn bullet train actually going to go?
4. Will the vilified Cemex mining operation actually start?
Plans are in the offing for huge developments in Eastern Santa Clarita over the next decade, and they all but ignore these 4 questions. Let the buyers beware: Do you want to live in a new home and choke cement dust, only to get in the car and sit in traffic behind a dump truck while you watch the "high speed" train lumber by at about 35 mph in Santa Clarita?
Both the builders and planners cite needed jobs and housing, and I agree with that part. But building with so many intangibles left unsettled is absolutely crazy, and anyone who buys a home in eastern Canyon Country in the next 5 years is asking for trouble.
The Five Knolls project at Golden Valley Road/Newhall Ranch Road adds 500 homes.
The Skyline Ranch project to be built between Whites Canyon Road and Sierra Highway south of Vasquez Canyon Road will add 1,260 more homes.
The Vista Canyon Ranch proposal, an 1,100 home project located across the Santa Clara River from Canyon Country Park.
River Village still has 400 more homes slated for building in western Canyon Country/Saugus.
Trestles, hiding in the shadow of Via Princessa, by the train tracks somehow adds 137 more units.
Working for a Realtor, you'd think this would be great news to me, but I've seen what uncontrolled growth does to an area (cough, San Fernando Valley, cough). Oh well, Santa Clarita, it was "awesome" while it lasted.
It ain't pretty.
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