Newhall group rejects bus plan

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Newhall group rejects bus plan

By Eric Thayer
Signal Staff Writer

Tuesday, November 7, 2000

he Newhall Redevelopment Committee voted Monday night to recommend that the city abandon a tentative plan for Greyhound buses to stop on Railroad Avenue and operate out of the Newhall Metrolink Station.
    In a unanimous vote, the committee— an advisory body to the Santa Clarita Redevelopment Agency, which is the City Council— took official steps to try to stop the plan, which many Newhall merchants and property owners think would compromise efforts to revitalize the area.
    Newhall merchants foresee myriad problems if the city goes ahead with a proposal for the bus company to sell tickets and run a packaging service out of the station— adding at least 10 buses per day to Railroad Avenue traffic that already includes city and Amtrak buses. Business owners have voiced concerns about increased loitering, trash, diesel fumes and a lack of parking.
    City officials have maintained the project is on hold, and reinforced that position Monday night when a city staff member told the committee that the details have yet to be ironed out.
    “(The city) is looking into putting together something concrete,” said Bob Murphy, acting transportation manager for the city. “If the committee is open to a presentation by Greyhound, then that would be the next step.”
    But committee member Victor Feany, owner of Newhall Hardware, said no further presentations would be necessary.
    “I think it would be wasting time to do any presentation,” he said.
    City Transportation Manager Ron Kilcoyne presented the idea to the Newhall Redevelopment Committee in September. Kilcoyne said he had been in contact with Greyhound several times in recent years to get the private bus company to provide increased passenger service to the Santa Clarita Valley, at the request of college students and seniors.
    He discussed the proposal with the redevelopment committee again on Oct. 10, drawing opposition from redevelopment committee members and about a dozen members of the public.
     Some said there may be a place for greyhound bus service in Santa Clarita— just not in downtown Newhall.
    A vote by the redevelopment committee was waylaid last month because the proposal was not listed on the committee’s agenda as an action item.
    The formal vote came Monday, when Committee Vice Chairman Leon Worden introduced a motion that the committee “recommend that the City Council reject any proposal for a Greyhound presence in downtown Newhall.” The motion carried 13-0.
    As an advisory body, the Newhall Redevelopment Committee does not have the final say in the matter, but the group’s vote will be recorded and passed along to the City Council, officials said.