Lyon Canyon Housing Projects
Site for housing projects just north of Towsley Canyon in Lyon Canyon
Comparison of the approved Lyons Canyon Ranch project (on the left) and the proposed Trails at Lyons Canyon project (on the right). Original downloaded from The Trails website.
Lyons Canyon Ranch project
[Note that the historic map name of "Lyon" Canyon (named for Sanford Lyon) has become "Lyons" Canyon for the projects. I don't know if that was intentional or just an oversight. That does match "Lyons" Avenue in Newhall.]
Lyons Canyon Ranch was a housing project (TR53653) covering about 235 acres of land in Lyon Canyon. It was bordered on the east by the old road and the Taylor Open Space and on the south by Towsley Canyon. This is unincorporated land in Los Angeles County and not part of the City of Santa Clarita.
The project would cover about 105 acres leaving the remaining 130 acres as open space. There would be 93 detached single-family lots and 1 condominium lot for 93 senior condominium units. 3.8 million cubic yards of earth would be graded to allow for construction. Of the approximate 1735 oak trees on the site, 162 would be removed, 13 would be transplanted, and 52 would be encroached upon.
The project was originally submitted to the City of Santa Clarita for review and possible annexation in 2002. It was withdrawn from the city in May of 2005. The project was redesigned and filed with the County of Los Angeles in June of 2005. The project was approved in 2009.
In 2014, it was reported that the City of Santa Clarita was interested in buying the land for open space. Unfortunately, this never happened. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, along with the city, also tried to purchase the property in 2019.
By 2018, the project was still not built, but a one year extension was granted. This time, they would only cut down 147 oak trees instead of the original number of 162 and only encroach upon 53 oak trees instead of the original 52. However, the project would die in a few years.
To read the (large) Draft Environmental Impact Report and the other project documents follow this link.
Lyons Canyon Ranch tract map (2018)
The Trails at Lyons Canyon project
This project (project No. 2021-001195-5, tentative tract map No. 83301) includes the development of 504 residential units in a mix of attached and detached dwelling units and affordable senior housing on 233.18 acres. The developed portion would be on about 40.33 acres adjacent to the old road. The rest would be natural and improved open space. As the above comparison chart points out, there would be more open space than the Lyons Ranch project and the housing would all be in one part of the project area.
The latest (4/17/2024) information on The Trails can by read from a Signal article here.
The website for The Trails is (or was if it doesn't exist anymore) here.
The Trails at Lyons Canyon Ranch site plan (from their website).
The Trails 2021 tentative tract map (from their website). A larger PDF version here.