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equestrian trails. The proposed project would incorporate portions of these existing trails into the
larger trail system, which loops around and through the project site.

Site Access and Circulation

Access to the site is currently available only from Castaic Road and Tapia Canyon Road from
the 1-5, via the Parker Road exit, which is approximately two miles west of the project site
entrance. The proposed project would provide an extension of Tapia Canyon Road to the
northeast, with connection to the adjacent approved Tentative Tract Map 51644 (Tesoro del
Valle). A small off-site area proposed as an entrance road would also be developed as a part of
the proposed project.

Offsite Improvements

The primary access to the project site is from Castaic Road, over Castaic Creek, to Tapia
Canyon Road. All of these roadways would be improved as a part of the project. Improvements
to Castaic Road would begin just south of the Castaic Sports Complex and would include
repaving and widening. Castaic Road then becomes Tapia Canyon Road, which currently
crosses Castaic Creek via culvert crossing. This culvert crossing would be removed and
replaced with a bridge structure that spans Castaic Creek. Roadway improvements, including
repaving and widening of Tapia Canyon Road, would be continued from the bridge crossing to
the entrance of the project site.

Preservation of Existing Ridgelines

Los Angeles County Ordinance 2004-0069 amended Title 22- Planning and Zoning Code, by
establishing the Castaic Area Community Standards District (CACSD) in November 2004. The
CACSD requires the preservation of ‘significant ridgelines”, which includes primary and
secondary ridgelines. No development, grading, construction, or improvements are allowed on a
significant ridgeline, within a 50-foot radius from every point on the crest of a primary ridgeline,
or within a 25-foot radius from every point on the crest of a secondary ridgeline, without
significant ridgeline exemption approval.

Although a Conditional Use Permit for a Ridgeline Exemption is required for the proposed
project because of an incursion by a proposed access road and a water tank, the proposed
project otherwise avoids development of prominent ridgelines to the north and south of the
Tapia Canyon Road corridor. Approximately 74 percent of the project site would be retained as
permanent open space including ridgelines, interconnected natural open space, water course
areas for wildlife movement, manufactured slopes, and areas for vegetation thinning/fuel
modification.

Regional Fire Protection

A fuel modification plan is required to increase the defensible space around habitable structures
because the project site is located within a ‘Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone” (VHFHSZ).
The fuel modification requirements include a 200-foot buffer zone, consisting of a combination
of a 20-foot wet zone (Zone A - landscaped and irrigated), a 30-foot irrigated zone with more
native plants (Zone B), and a 150-foot thinning zone (Zone C) over most of the developed
portion of the project site. The thinning zone would include the removal of brush and dead plant
materials, removal of non-native tree species, and periodic grass and weed cutting. The fuel
modification plan will be submitted to the Los Angeles County Fire Department Forestry Division
and would need to be approved prior to any construction activities.

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