HIDDEN CREEKS: PROPOSED COMMUNITY

Hidden Creeks Estates Project Update: May 6, 2008
The proposed Hidden Creeks Estates was the subject at our May 6, 2008 meeting. Michael Sanders and John Polito, from the project made a presentation about its status. The project is proposed for a location west of Brown's canyon, to the northwest of the Renaissance community.

This is a view looking down on the proposed development area. The Renaissance and Villagio developments can be seen on the left of the image.

The project as proposed, consists of 188 single family residential lots, 25 of which will be Equestrian lots. The average lot size is 18,500 square feet. The development site is approximately 285 acres, of which 118 acres will remain as natural open space. There is an 18 acre recreational park with ball fields, restrooms, tot lot, basketball courts, and a community meeting building, all available to the Porter Ranch Community.

The new, state of the art, equestrian facility, will be capable of boarding 120 horses, available to the surrounding communities. The existing equestrian facility can accommodate 80 horses, so there is a net gain of 40 additional horse boarding stalls at the new facility. There will also be a staging area adjacent to the Equestrian Facility for community residents who want to ride the trails on the property that connect to the regional trails, and fire hydrants will be located at the staging area for fire fighting operations in Brown’s Canyon. Developer's Project Description.

At the May 2008 meeting stakeholders expressed concern about wildlife corridors, traffic on Mason and construction traffic on Brown's Canyon.

When asked about where the Hidden Creeks children would go to school. Sanders replied that LAUSD said there was plenty of capacity and that would not be an issue. However, one stakeholder commented that the community had gone to a lot of trouble for the new school with hopes that it would serve all of Porter Ranch for the middle school students; the community would be frustrated if 25% of the school's capacity was taken up by Hidden Creeks students at the expense of Porter Ranch students.

The developer hopes to secure annexation by the City of Los Angeles and approval by the City’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee by the end of 2008.

You may review the Draft Environmental Impact Report at the Porter Ranch and Chatsworth Libraries or online, on the menu select “Environmental”, then “Draft Environmental Impact Reports”. You may submit your comments about the project in writing by: June 30, 2008 to Nicholas Hendricks, Environmental Review Coordinator, Department of City Planning, 6262 Van Nuys Blvd, Room 351, Van Nuys, CA 91401, (818) 374-5046, nick.hendricks@lacity.org.

Letter to City Planning with PRNC comments about the project.