Castaic council discusses Tapia Ranch project

The Castaic Area Town Council on Wednesday night reviewed plans for the Tapia Ranch development and received public comment requesting information on how to increase the law enforcement presence in Castaic.

Tapia Ranch

During the public comment period, Jon Myhre, speaking on behalf of the Tapia Ranch development project, said the environmental impact review process was beginning and the project is slated to break ground in 2021.

The plan calls for Tapia Ranch and Tesoro del Valle to be connected by a gated roadway that would only be used for emergency access.

A meeting is scheduled 6 p.m. Thursday at the Castaic Sports Complex regarding the beginnings of construction of the Tapia Ranch project.

Myhre had last come to the council in 2014 for endorsement of the Tapia Ranch project, but the county stalled approving the project because the plans had no access to adequate water during a drought at the time.

Now with the project moving forward with approval from SCV Water, the council’s only concern was the Tesoro Homeowners Association

was gating off a part of the secondary access that would isolate northern Castaic in case of natural disasters and freeway closures, said Castaic Area Town Council President Jessica Chambers.

The Tapia Ranch project land is a total of 1,200 acres with about 900 acres of undisturbed open space, Myhre said.

The project also calls for eight open space lots, one water tank, one water pump station, a park, nine lots earmarked for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and one private street.

Law enforcement

Castaic resident Richard Humanic also spoke during public comment on his concerns about the amount of law enforcement in the area.

“I’ve been following newspaper articles in The Signal that highlight the

effort in the city of Santa Clarita of all the law enforcement within city boundaries,” he said. “At the meeting in June I attended, I was told there was a shortage of officers preventing the Sheriff’s Department from adding additional patrols in the Castaic area. So how can they continue to place massive amounts of officers in the city and the Castaic residents can’t even get daily patrols when similar crimes are being committed?”

Humanic said his RV was broken into and he had seen drug houses in his neighborhood, which is in Castaic’s Region I.

He also stated he had concerns about the unpaid $11.6 million in bridge and thoroughfare fees Los Angeles County ordered Chiquita Canyon Landfill to pay in its conditional use permit.

Humanic was concerned the residents do not know where their tax dollars were going, he said.

“This money is not being reinvested in the community,” he said. “We are getting nothing.”

The Dam Run and Gnome Festival

The council also talked about the upcoming Gnome and Garden Arts Festival, which they are merging with the Castaic Annual Dam Run in April 2019.

The Dam Run benefits local schools, while the festival will be an arts and crafts fair including a writing contest for elementary school students, Chambers said. The festivities would consist of the run in the morning, the gnome festival and arts and crafts fair, and live music and a gnome family movie night. Vendor opportunities would also be available.

All proceeds from events would be to benefit local schools and charities, she said.

“We’re getting really excited about this,” said Councilman Brad Lanfranco, who works as The Signal’s advertising director.