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States at a Glance: Southern California
Can Los Angeles, the birthplace of sprawl, change its ways? Yes -- just look at Village Green, an award-winning development of affordable, environmentally friendly housing in a transit-accessible location. The project uses cutting-edge techniques to save energy. It is the largest solar-powered housing community in Southern California and uses high-tech gas-fired air-cooling, space-heating and water-heating systems. All of these energy-saving features translate into 30 to 50 percent less energy use. Though the project includes plenty of green building features, the smartest thing -- and most unusual for Southern California -- is its rail link. Village Green is located just one block from a Metrolink commuter rail stop. L.A.'s commuter rail system is just 10 years old, but it has grown quickly. Village Green is well located on the Antelope Valley line just a few stops from Burbank, Glendale and downtown L.A. This being L.A., few people who live in Village Green will likely give up their cars altogether. But even if residents take the train only a few days a week it could make a big difference in cutting the development's impact on traffic and air quality. The growth of public transportation in Los Angeles -- which now includes not only commuter rail but also the Los Angeles city subway and the new Metro Rapid express bus -- allows developments like Village Green to break out of the cycle of sprawl.
Just when we thought Los Angeles was turning things around, along comes Newhall Ranch. The project will chew up 12,000 acres of some of the last pristine open space in L.A. County. Located at the Ventura County border, Newhall Ranch, if built, would eventually house almost 70,000 people.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Roger D. Randall recently put the project on hold due to unresolved questions about the development's impacts on local water supplies, but Newhall Ranch's impacts on roads and air should also be examined more closely. The area currently has some of the worst traffic and highest ozone levels in Southern California. But the environmental impact report doesn't even address the project's consequences on air quality in adjacent Ventura County. Equally troubling is the development's location in a floodplain along the Santa Clara River. Newhall Ranch would destroy over 300 acres of the floodplain, increasing the risk of flash floods in L.A. and Ventura counties. Local watershed groups note that the project surrounds more than 1,200 acres of the best stream-side habitat anywhere on the river, and runoff from the project is sure to degrade local waterways. Among the "natural" features planned for the project are an 18-hole golf course and a 15-acre man-made lake. Photo by Lynne Planbeck States at a Glance | Introduction | Resources | Acknowledgments Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
