Castaic panel pushes road

Council wants connection between Tapia Ranch and Tesoro del Valle

Members of the Castaic Area Town Council received some reassurance from council member Bob Lewis Wednesday night that an access road connecting Tapia Ranch and Tesoro del Valle is in the future.

Updating council members on the latest discussions about the road that would connect two planned housing developments, Lewis said he’s been in touch with Chris Perry, the planning deputy for Los Angeles County District 5 Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

Perry “has been in discussion with the (county) Department of Planning and he feels the road situation can be resolved,” said Lewis, in his presentation of the Castaic Region Boundaries Committee.

The deadline for discussions about the road is in November, he said, when county planners meet with the Tesoro developer and members of the county’s Department of Public Works.

Lewis said he and Perry agreed that a meeting of the council’s committee should take place next week.

To that end, Council President Jessica Chambers put forward a motion endorsed by the board to allow the subcommittee to write a letter of support for the connector, after its meeting next week with personnel from county planning and the developer.

Lewis said he and council member Jeff Preach — who did not attend Wednesday’s council meeting — had reviewed planning documents about the connecting road including a review of the Santa Clarita Master Plan and

“

That road should be there.” Bob Lewis,

Member of the Castaic Area Town Council

SCV’s One Valley, One Vision.

The access road is spelled out in One Valley, One Vision but was not — as an apparent oversight — included in the Master Plan.

“Our contention is that it needs to happen because of OVOV, which also supports this position,” said Councilmember Brad Lanfranco, who is also The Signal’s advertising director.

“One recommendation that could be made is that it could be done as a collector street,” Lewis said. “That road should be there.”

Regardless, council members, county planners and the supervisor’s office are on a path of defining a connecting road between Tapia and Tesoro.

Perry “said he felt it can be resolved,” Lewis said.

The council voiced concerns in August regarding the planned emergency access road, which in effect would isolate large parts of the northern Castaic community in case of natural disasters and freeway closures.

The Tesoro del Valle homeowners association favors the road being gated and for emergency access only.

At least 405 homes are scheduled to built for the project, to be located on Tapia Canyon Road at Castaic Road.