One Valley One Vision

The OVOV Process

The OVOV process will take approximately five years to complete. The effort started in 2000 and is expected to continue through 2005. The process will include the following steps:

Phase I		Discovery/Visioning Process (Complete)
Phase II		Vision & Guiding Principles (Complete)
Phase III		Background Report (Complete)
Phase IV		Land Use Map Development (In Progress)
Phase V		Policy Development & Environmental Impact Report (In Progress)
Phase VI		General Plan Adoption and Final Document Preparation (Future)

PHASE I – DISCOVERY/VISIONING PROCESS

The first step in the OVOV project was to share information and to characterize the Valley community as one consistent whole despite jurisdictional boundaries and planning principles used in the past. This process included data gathering and identification of a preliminary set of planning issues that would be used to begin a dialogue with the community. The SCV Snapshot Brochure was one result of this process.

The second step in this phase was to reach out to the community to inform residents about the project and how they could best participate, understand the vision the people have for the Valley 20+ years or more into the future and draft and obtain approval on a set of Visions and Guiding Principles to guide development of the General Plan document. The steps that were followed, the materials used, and the data gathered are included below:

SCV Snapshot Brochure

The Visioning process for creation of the General Plan started in the Summer of 2000 with the publication and distribution of the Santa Clarita Valley Snapshot brochure. The Santa Clarita Valley Snapshot was intended to help residents focus on the issues that are critical to planning for the Valley’s future. The Snapshot was developed by the City and the County Planning departments to provide facts and descriptions of the Valley for use by residents in thinking about the future of the Valley. It provides an overview of the Valley in 2001 so residents can think about how it should look in 2025.

SCV Snapshot (PDF)

Flapjack Forum

A community-wide pancake breakfast served as the kick-off to One Valley One Vision. At this event, the City and the County announced their breakthrough agreement to enter into an unprecedented regional planning effort to create a single plan for the Valley. This provided an opportunity for City Councilmembers and representatives from the County Board of Supervisors to interact with the public in an informal setting to hear their concerns for the Valley’s future.

Hispanic Outreach

Outreach to the Valley’s Spanish speaking population was accomplished through direct, face-to-face contact by City staff. Many individual meetings and workshop activities were held with the Valley’s Hispanic population to identify their issues for inclusion in the guiding principles.

Stakeholder Interviews

In August-September 2000, interviews were scheduled with over 100 Valley stakeholders including appointed and elected officials, developers, and representatives from the Valley’s business community, environmental groups, neighborhood groups, utility service providers, civic organizations, educational institutions, and the media to identify and discuss the strengths and challenges facing the Valley.

Community Survey & Results

The Community Survey was developed to gather information on issues important to Santa Clarita Valley residents. The Survey was taken from February through May of 2001. It addressed key issues like transportation options, community design, housing types, ridgeline protection and the adequacy of public services. The Survey was distributed throughout the Santa Clarita Valley through neighborhood organizations, and it was available at City and County buildings, libraries and schools, and online on the project website.

Results are shown here for the nearly 2000 residents who responded to the survey questions. The results will be used along with other input solicited to create Planning Principles that will guide the development of future General Plan policies.

Survey Results Summary (PDF)
Complete Results

Advertising

An extensive advertising campaign was launched to maximize public involvement at the visioning workshops. Specifically, 60,000 door hangers were placed at every home in the Valley inviting residents to participate in the workshops. Bus shelter posters were displayed throughout the Valley, a cinema slide ran at the local Edwards Cinemas, an invitation flyer was distributed, English and Spanish advertisements were placed in local newspapers, and City and County staff set up a telephone tree to personally invite community leaders to the workshops. A thank you advertisement was also published in the newspaper following the workshop series.

Visioning Workshops

The OVOV project also included face-to-face conversations with members of the community through four visioning workshops that were held in April/May 2001 throughout the Valley. More than 140 residents took part in the workshops. The activities that were included in the workshops were designed to engage participants in the planning process for the Santa Clarita Valley's future. Residents were asked to respond to previous data collected about their issues and concerns for the Valley. They were asked to describe their visions for the Valley in 2025 through a post card exercise. Residents were also led through a mapping activity where groups were asked to identify and allocate housing, parks, and commercial and industrial uses in the future. The workshops were held on the following dates and at the indicated locations:

La Mesa Junior High School – Monday, April 30, 2001

Hart High School – Wednesday, May 9, 2001

Pinetree Elementary School – Thursday, May 10, 2001

Castaic Elementary School – Monday, May 14, 2001

View summaries of workshop activities below:

Vision (PDF)
Comment Cards (PDF)
Mapping Activity (PDF)

School Activities

Students in the five Santa Clarita Valley School Districts were invited to participate in classroom activities prepared for One Valley, One Vision. The classroom exercises were designed to introduce the General Plan process to the Valley's youth and to identify issues important to students. More than 100 students prepared murals, essays and drawings highlighting their concerns and desires for Santa Clarita's future. Representative artwork from the activities is displayed below.

Summary of Student Activities (PDF)

PHASE II – VISION & GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Development & Distribution of the Vision & Guiding Principles

All public feedback was used to develop a vision statement and a series of 36 guiding principles. These draft principles were presented to the public with photo illustrations to convey how they may be applied. The principles were directly mailed to over 300 persons who had participated in the OVOV process, and posted on the web site for review and comment. In Summer-Fall 2001, City and County staff attended nearly 20 public meetings throughout the Valley to personally distribute these guiding principles and promote the Valley Congress.

The Valley Congress

More than 75 residents from across the Santa Clarita Valley participated in the Valley Congress, held Thursday, October 25, 2001. The Valley Congress was open to all interested persons in the Valley as part of the ongoing One Valley, One Vision project.

The Congress was held to give community members the opportunity to comment on the Guiding Principles. Delegates were appointed and/or requested to volunteer as participants in the Congress, representing each of the communities that make up the Valley including Acton, Agua Dulce, Canyon Country (Sand Canyon), Castaic/Val Verde, Newhall, Saugus, Stevenson Ranch, and Valencia. Representatives from Valley agencies, business, and environmental interests were also invited to participate in the Congress to ensure that a diversity of interests and perspectives were represented.

During the Congress, participants were asked to indicate their approval/disapproval of the Guiding Principles. For disapproved Principles, participants were asked to identify the issue associated with their disapproval and if applicable, modifications or additions that might be made to make the Principle acceptable.

The majority of the 36 Principles were approved without comment. A third of the Principles were identified as requiring clarification. No Principles were disapproved by a majority, although two or three community groups voted against six of the Principles. Those six Principles, along with the Principles needing clarification, have been modified to better reflect community goals.

Final Vision & Guiding Principles

The Vision and Guiding Principles articulate the Valley community's desires for the Santa Clarita Valley's future. The Vision is a statement describing the future that residents imagined for their Valley. The Guiding Principles are statements indicating how decisions will be made regarding the future of the Valley, including where people live, work, shop, play, and learn. The Vision and Guiding Principles create a framework for the General Plan document by stating goals for the future.

The final version of the Guiding Principles is available below:

Vision and Guiding Principles (PDF)

PHASE III – BACKGROUND REPORT

Phase III involved data collection, growth and economic trend analysis, and mapping of the Valley’s physical characteristics and service areas for inclusion in the Technical Background Report. This phase was important to establish a database of existing Valley features that will be used in Phase IV for the development of the land use map.

During Phase III, water specialists, economists, traffic engineers, and land use planners, conducted field reconnaissance, collected data from Valley agencies and service organizations, and analyzed 24 issue areas ranging from geology to education. A Geographic Information System was used to map such information as flood zones, fault lines, land uses, utilities, schools, roadways, parks, environmentally-sensitive areas, and ridgelines.

In addition to describing the existing characteristics and conditions of the Planning Area, the Technical Background Report also identified future development demands and constraints, where appropriate. The Technical Background Report lays the groundwork for policy development on the full range of environmental, land use and public service issues. During the preparation of the document the public was kept informed through the publication and distribution of the two newsletters, included below:

OVOV Project News – July 2002 (PDF)

OVOV Project News – September 2002 (PDF)

Technical Background Report (SUB-DIRECTORY)

Phase III, the preparation of the Technical Background Report is complete. An extensive public outreach process is underway to inform the Valley community that Phase IV will begin in Spring 2004. The following meetings have occurred:

August 25, 2003		Castaic Town Council
September 10, 2003		Building Industry Association
September 11, 2003		Saugus Action Committee
September 12, 2003		School Superintendents
September 16, 2003		Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce
September 24, 2003		Castaic Lake Water Agency
September 25, 2003		Canyon Country Advisory Committee
October 2, 2003		City Parks & Recreation Commission
October 6, 2003		Newhall Redevelopment Committee Acton Town Council
October 7, 2003		City Planning Commission
October 14, 2003		City Council
October 21, 2003		Valencia Industrial Association
October 22, 2003		Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission
October 28, 2003		Realtors’ Association