Canyon Country Magazine September 2023

anyon ountry MAGAZINE SINCE 1919

SEPTEMBER 2023

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THE CITY KEEPING AN EYE ON TRAFFIC

S E P T E M B E R 2023

C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E · 3

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S E P T E M B E R 2023

TA B L E O F CONTENTS

We Remember 9.11.2001

5 Know Your Zone 6 Parents, Hart USD Talk School Security 8 Collecting Data and Charting Roads 9 Road Improvements Driven by Growth 10 Cowboys Tame Wolverines at Home 11 Energy Storage Facility Nearing Construction Phase 18 Calendar — Canyon Country Community Center Library Events

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anyon ountry MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2023 | Vol. 2 | No. 9

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Richard Budman rbudman@signalscv.com (661) 287-5501

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C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E · 5

Know Your

Preparing residents and businesses for emergencies or evacuations.

By Rylee Holwager Signal Staff Writer

E

mergency evacuation zones within fire hazard severity zones have been established within the “Know Your Zone” campaign announced on Wednesday by the office of L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

“Know Your Zone” is a campaign that was the result of a collaborative effort by Los Angeles County public safety agencies and Barger. It aims to prepare residents and businesses for emergencies or evacuations and includes the city of Santa Clarita, the communities of Agua Dulce, Castaic and Stevenson Ranch, and the unincorporated areas of the Santa Clarita Valley, among other areas.

See ZONE, page 14

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S E P T E M B E R 2023

Parents, Hart District Staff Talk School Security

By Perry Smith Signal Staff Writer

S

anta Clarita Valley Sheriff ’s Station Capt.

Justin Diez pledged to keep the school resource deputy program going Tuesday during a discussion with parents of junior high and high school students meant to share information and receive community input.

In a phone interview Wednesday he said he wasn’t referring to a department-wide policy decision, which he couldn’t make; however, as long as the program was available at the station level, he was committed to fully staffing the group.

Considering the group “his most important special team” at the station, Diez was looking to respond to speculation that had arisen in response to the L.A. County Sheriff ’s Department’s Civilian Oversight Committee holding a series of forums looking at reevaluating the program, which some program supporters saw as an existential threat to it.

Some communities, including in the neighboring Antelope Valley, have formed community groups seeking to “Cancel the Contract” with LASD for their cities and schools. Diez said that hasn’t been his experience at all in the SCV. Diez was one of the speakers who addressed the parents before group discussions began at parents’ respective tables. The speakers answered questions from the crowd on a variety of topics, and Diez said the station is staffed at around 70% at the moment with about 260 deputies, many of whom work dozens of hours of overtime a week to make sure the SCV has around-the-clock law enforcement.

“The reason I bring that up is I have to make very difficult decisions on what units to curtail, how to move around people,” Diez said, describing the process of staffing under such conditions as well as managing promotions and transfers as a “constant shell game.”

“The one thing I want this group to know … is that we will always staff this SRD [School Resource Deputy] program,” he said to applause, adding it was an easy decision in this community because of the support it has for the station.

“I feel that that is our most important special team at this station of all of our teams, simply because security in the schools is so near and dear to my heart,” he added. “That will not change as long as I’m here, and I’m sure that will continue long past me, but as long as I’m here, you’ll have that commitment for those seven deputies and a sergeant.”

Each school resource deputy currently rotates around multiple campuses that they’re assigned to, Diez added.

Santa Clarita officials, who provide $1 million of the funding for the school resource deputy program for the William S. Hart Union High School District, reaffirmed their support for the program as well Wednesday.

“The safety and well-being of our community has and always will be a top priority for the city of San-

Kathy Hunter, William S. Hart Union High School District assistant superintendent of student services, safety and wellness, leads a presentation reviewing updates and policies at the district’s Safe School Discussion.

PHOTO BY DAN WATSON / THE SIGNAL

ta Clarita,” said Santa Clarita Mayor Jason Gibbs.

“As a contract city, Santa Clarita regularly budgets approximately $1 million each year for the School Resource Deputy program through the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department. The city will continue to work with our partners at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff ’s Station to ensure the safety of our students.”

The event also included a presentation from Kathy Hunter, assistant superintendent of student services, safety and wellness, who provided an update on some recent campus efforts, such as canine-detection services that were renewed for a second year this year.

Hart district Superintendent Mike Kuhlman said Tuesday the idea for the dogs sprang from conversations with parents at last year’s school safety discussion.

The groups were then asked to talk about site security, communication, health and wellness as well as policy and training, and look at the district’s strengths and weaknesses in each of those areas.

The groups were also then asked to talk about ideas for reducing the impact of gangs in the SCV. Some of the strengths mentioned in the group discussion were the district’s policies around site security and gains the district’s respective campuses have made in social-emotional learning, through various campus centers that provide safe spaces and anti-bullying clubs.

That also was cited as somewhat of a challenge, though, as during the discussion between staff and parents, it came up that at more than one campus the spaces are becoming so popular students are having a harder time getting in there some days.

Bathroom safety was another issue brought up,

with more than one parent saying their children don’t always feel safe in the bathrooms because of reports of crowded conditions and students congregating when they’re not supposed to be.

Brandi Davis, assistant principal at Placerita Junior High School, said she regularly walks through areas such as the girls’ locker rooms just to make sure the students know there’s an adult around.

Diez also answered questions about cyberbullying, saying sometimes it could be a law enforcement issue if someone is being physically threatened or in danger, but usually it’s a matter more appropriately handled by the campus community due to the nature of the contact.

One parent asked about xylazine, a drug the DEA recently issued an alert on because it’s being cut with another much more widespread local problem, fentanyl.

Diez said he has not seen local reports of xylazine, also known as “Tranq,” a powerful sedative the FDA has approved for veterinary use. Because Tranq is not an opioid, the opioid overdose-reversal medicine naloxone doesn’t work on it, making a poisoning from the drug much more lethal, according to officials.

Kuhlman said the discussion would be part of the district’s next governing board meeting on Sept. 13 with a presentation by Hunter.

“The Hart district schedules bi-annual safety updates with the governing board (fall and spring) which are then uploaded onto the safety page on the district website,” Kuhlman wrote in an email Wednesday.

The information is also available for parents at www.hartdistrict.org/apps/pages/schoolsafety. 

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S E P T E M B E R 2023

Collecting Data and Charting Roads

Engineering technicians Angela Seminoro, right, and Brandon Ansari have monitored the city’s traffic for 17 years and one year, respectively. PHOTOS BY HABEBA MOSTAFA / THE SIGNAL

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T

he traffic volumes aren’t the only things that have changed on Santa Clarita roads in the last 25 years.

Nowadays with the use of cellphones, apps and very fast internet, members of the city’s Traffic Division are able to monitor, communicate and respond to traffic emergencies with their smartphones in real time, said Cesar Romo, Santa Clarita’s traffic signal system administrator.

“Everything we do is right here,” he said, pointing to his iPhone as he stands in front of a bank of monitors Thursday displaying live feeds for some of the city’s busiest intersections.

The city has a feed on just about every intersection, Romo said, but it doesn’t record or store the footage, for legal purposes. He alluded to a constant stream of hypothetical subpoena requests the city would have to address from insurance attorneys if traffic engineers had such footage — never mind the storage-related considerations for that much data.

The city’s Traffic Operations Center is a relatively small room on the third

floor of City Hall.

However, through using miles of fiber optic cabling connected to traffic lights that can send hundreds of gigabytes of information per second, if an adjustment is needed at an intersection because a sheriff ’s deputy activated the emergency panel for a crash — now there’s an app for that.

Santa Clarita uses a number of means and spends tens of millions of dollars every year in an effort to keep its roads moving as safely and efficiently as possible, according to a group of analysts and engineers who help manage the city’s safety numbers, traffic volumes and road projects.

“We went through the entire city a few years ago and identified the most congested areas … areas where we have a right of way and the permits so we wouldn’t have to take any private property, and identified about 20 locations that could benefit from either additional lanes or extending left-turn pocket lanes to eliminate queuing or spill-out into the adjacent lanes,” said Ian Pari, a senior traffic engineer. “And so each year, as funding allows, we do a number of these See TRAFFIC, page 12

S E P T E M B E R 2023

C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E · 9

Road Improvements Driven by Growth

By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer

A

quarter-century ago, area’s most-trafficked road was Bouquet Canyon Road between Newhall Ranch and Seco Canyon roads, which saw 56,000 vehicles pass by per day, according to an Aug. 30, 1998, front-page article in The Signal.

According to data released by the city this week, almost 25 years later, those roads still see the most traffic.

The intersection of Newhall Ranch and Bouquet Canyon roads sees approximately 116,000 cars per day, which makes it the busiest intersection by about 25,000 vehicles, next to No. 2, Bouquet Canyon and Soledad Canyon Road/Valencia Boulevard, which many call Bouquet Junction.

The other three busiest intersections by traffic volume: Newhall Ranch Road and McBean Parkway see 87,000 vehicles per day; McBean and Valencia see 81,000 vehicles; and leading the east side, Soledad and Whites canyon roads see 76,000 vehicles per day.

Of course, Newhall Ranch Road was still in its infancy in 1998, a T-intersection with Newhall Ranch Road not connecting to Interstate 5. The road would see big growth thanks to the city’s most significant capital improvement projects for its roads, the $245 million Cross Valley Connector, which opened in March 2010, joining the I-5 and Highway 126 on the west and Highway 14 in the east through Golden Valley Road and Newhall Ranch Road.

Newhall Ranch Road and Copper Hill Drive also was a T-intersection when the 1998 data was reported, said Joel Bareng, a city traffic engineer, and both intersections now connect to the freeway.

Using the Numbers

And then just as now, the highest volume of traffic doesn’t always equate to the highest number of collisions — although two of the five busiest also have the highest number of reported collisions.

And not all of the traffic volumes have gone up over time, due to a number of capital improvement projects the city regularly undertakes to adjust traffic, such as the Cross-Valley Connector, which connected Golden Valley Road to the west side of the Santa Clarita Valley, or the Dockweiler Drive extension, a project expected to begin next year that will “provide a through connection from Sierra Highway to Railroad Avenue,” according to the city’s website.

A couple examples of projects that have come from the city’s constant study of data include the upcoming median modification at Rio Norte and Copper Hill drives and a third left-hand turn lane, said Cesar Romo, traffic signal system administrator for the city of Santa Clarita.

Both reflect the city’s strategy to accommodate growth with the least amount of impact for residents, he added, noting the city looks at intersection data and annually creates revisions and pos-

Cars, buses and motorcycles bustle during the afternoon in the intersection of Newhall Ranch Road and Bouquet Canyon Road — the busiest intersection of Santa Clarita. PHOTO BY HABEBA MOSTAFA / THE SIGNAL

sible improvements for the city’s circulation plan, and once the plan is mapped out, it’s submitted for approval from the city’s capital improvement plan budget.

One of the reasons the Rio Norte-Copper Hill project was chosen is because the planned change is an extension of the queuing lane for those turning left onto Copper Hill from Rio Norte Junior High School, and the existing road has space, and the pattern would be a natural accommodation for the area’s growth.

Similar changes are planned at Golden Valley Road and Plum Canyon Road, according to Ramiro Fuentes, project manager for the city’s capital improvement program.

The city also looks at data points including a threshold for cars turning at an intersection, Romo said, which is currently 300 cars per hour. When an intersection begins to reach that volume, the city looks for ways to address it, and that’s part of what prompted the triple-left at McBean and Valencia, Romo said.

There are also certain space limitations the city has to deal with the best it can, Romo said, noting at peak evening rush-hour traffic, the traffic volume for left-hand turns at Bouquet Canyon and Newhall Ranch roads might exceed 1,100 cars in an hour, but there’s no space for the city to put in a fourth turn lane, even though the numbers at times could support it.

Turning Up, Down Traffic Volumes

Two intersections tied for the most collisions reported in the previous year: The second-busiest intersection, Bouquet and Soledad canyon roads, had 20 collisions from June 30, 2022, to July 1, 2023, which was the same number as Sierra Highway and Via Princessa, which was the eighth-busiest intersection.

That put Sierra Highway and Soledad in third

place for having 18 collisions and being the sixth-busiest intersection.

McBean Parkway and Valencia, which is the fourth-busiest intersection, took fourth with 16 crashes. The additional left-turn lane is expected to help with congestion there.

Sierra Highway showed up again on the list for most collisions at Golden Valley Road to round out the top-five intersections, averaging one crash a month last year, while being the 10th-busiest intersection by traffic volume.

The front-page story in The Signal 15 years ago reported that Bouquet Junction had recently passed the 100,000 vehicle-per-day threshold as the city’s busiest intersection. At that point, Sierra Highway and Soledad was No. 2, with 90,000 vehicles per day. The intersections of Valencia and McBean as well as Soledad and Whites canyon roads also reported close to but not quite 90,000 vehicles per day at that time, which are higher than their volumes now.

During the discussion over the summer of a major studio project being planned for North Newhall and Placerita Canyon Road, city traffic engineers reported citywide traffic volumes have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic levels.

A look back at the 2020 data indicates it has at some intersections, but not at others. In March 2020, just before the pandemic, city traffic engineers reported that Newhall Ranch and Bouquet was seeing 105,000 cars per day, while Bouquet and Soledad was seeing 96,000 vehicles, about 5,000 per day fewer than were reported in May of this year.

An estimate from a city transportation analyst in 2020 indicated the average volume for the city’s busiest intersections increased about 1.5% per year over the previous four years. 

1 0 · C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E

S E P T E M B E R 2023

Cowboys Tame Wolverines at Home

Left: Canyon wide receiver James Post (12) runs away from Harvard-Westlake defenders to score Canyon’s second touchdown in the second quarter. Right: Andrew Ruiz (60) celebrates as Keyshawn Wooten (22) runs away from the defense. PHOTOS BY DAN WATSON / THE SIGNAL

By Tyler Wainfeld Signal Sports Writer

T

he Canyon Cowboys football team is electric.

Speed. Strength. Size. Grit.

Whatever words can be used to describe a dominant football team, those words apply to the 2023 edition of the Cowboys (3-0), who stayed perfect on the young season with a 46-7 thrashing of the Harvard-Westlake Wolverines (12) on Friday at Harry Welch Stadium.

“We have a whole lot of playmakers,” Canyon junior Evan Watts said. “Everybody out here is a dog.”

There may be no bigger “dog” on the field than Watts. At 6 feet, 3 inches and 220 pounds, Watts is, to use team captain Andrew Ruiz’s words, “a cheat code.” Watts ran for two touchdowns, had two sacks and two interceptions, helping lead the Cowboys on both sides of the ball.

“I’m blessed. You know, I’m blessed,” Watts said.

“If I’m a cheat code, so be it.”

Watts isn’t the only player that could be called a “cheat code” for the Cowboys. Sophomore Keyshawn Wooten scored three rushing touchdowns, including a 60-yard score early in the second quarter to put Canyon up, 21-7. Junior Keston Banos added two rushing touchdowns, one early in the second to put the Cowboys on top, 14-7, and another near the end of the fourth, this one from 62 yards out, to close out the contest.

Neither of those two comes anywhere close to Watts’ size, but once they get going in the open field, there aren’t many that can catch them.

“I’m looking to hit the outside, because I once I hit the outside, nobody’s catching me,” Wooten said.

And when there isn’t space, Wooten knows just how to break free, a skill he showcased multiple times Friday night.

“Once they grab a hold of you, you really got to keep on driving your feet,” Wooten said.

Harvard-Westlake looked like an even match through the first quarter. The Wolverines matched Watts’ score to open the game with a 69-yard pass from freshman quarterback Aaryan Mehdi Wiliams to senior Connor Bunnak.

That would be the only time the Wolverines reached the end zone, and seemingly the only time the Cowboys felt threatened on defense. Through three games, Canyon has now allowed just 27 points.

“We felt that we were going to be better than last year,” Canyon head coach Ken Holsenbeck said.

“We had a full offseason to prepare. The guys have worked hard throughout that entire offseason, and it’s that hard work that we’re starting to see pay off here. I’m just happy for the boys, man. They’re doing a great job.”

This time last year, the Cowboys were also heading into Week 3 with a 2-0 record, and the Wolverines put an end to the Cowboys’ perfect start with a 14-6 victory.

How different things can be a year later.

“This was a big game for us,” Watts said. “Last year, we lost to them, it was a horrible loss. But we obviously got it done today.”

On the sidelines, the Cowboys were all about picking each other up. No matter who scored or who made the big play, teammates were all around to celebrate together.

“That’s the whole concept, right? It’s a team,” Holsenbeck said. “We don’t do individualism. It’s

all about the team. And everybody is here to support the team.”

Friday also saw the return of senior quarterback Caleb Sparks, who had to leave the Cowboys’ first game of the season at halftime due to an injury. He wasn’t asked to do too much, but ran the offense as Holsenbeck expected him to.

“He really helps us to get into some good plays, helps us with formations, makes sure everybody knows what they’re doing,” Holsenbeck said. “His leadership is something that’s really important to us. And to be honest, when we’re running the ball like that, we just we don’t need to throw the ball a bunch of times. So, we’re happy just to pound it when we can.”

The Cowboys were missing running back Ganisten Turner after he suffered an injury in last week’s game against Hueneme. But even without one of their star backs, the Cowboys have a deep backfield corps that seems to get better and better each game.

“We’re not afraid to put any one of them in there,” Holsenbeck said. “Every single one of them can break it and run for a touchdown on every single play, and if they need to run between the tackles, put their shoulder pads down and grind for some hard yards, they can do that as well.”

“I just love our chances overall our whole year,” Watts said. “Like I said, our whole team is some dogs, man. We got a whole lot of playmakers, very, very well coached. We all work hard, we never let up. That’s all I can say about that.”

Watts may be done talking for now, but it’s going to be an exciting rest of the season for him and the rest of the Cowboys. 

S E P T E M B E R 2023

C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E · 1 1

Energy Storage Facility Nearing Construction Phase

By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer

A

Canyon Country battery energy storage facility is going through the final checks at Santa Clarita City Hall and getting ready to break ground on an 80-megawatt standalone, transmission-connected battery energy-storage resource, city officials have confirmed.

The Terra-Gen project, a first of its kind for the Santa Clarita Valley, was announced in a Jan. 24, 2022, PG&E news release about a month after the Santa Clarita Planning Commission gave the 3.5-acre project near Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road final approval.

City Hall documents in the Planning Commission’s agenda detail the scope of the project and the work slated for 18358 Soledad Canyon, which is part of the Soledad Commercial Center.

“The applicant proposes to construct, own and operate the project, which will connect to the existing,

Construction vehicles sit at the site of what will become a Canyon Country battery energy storage facility. PHOTO BY HABEBA MOSTAFA / THE SIGNAL

adjacent Southern California Edison North Oaks Substation by way of a new 125-foot generation tie-line spanning three 75-foot-tall utility poles as shown on the proposed site plan. The project’s batteries would be installed in racks that are housed within approximately 55,000 square feet of outdoor enclosures that would

be accessed from the outside via cabinet doors for maintenance purposes.

A typical enclosure would measure 50 feet long by 10 feet wide and would be up to 15 feet in height.”

Mark Turner, head of energy storage development for Terra-Gen, said the company was a state leader in renewable energy sources, with two

gigawatts already online and another gigawatt in the development pipeline, so to speak, during that meeting.

The project, according to the PG&E statement, was part of a contract the company bid for as the result of a 2021 California Public Utility Commission ruling that required an increase of 11.5 gigawatts of production by 2026 to meet the anticipated demand. That statement added that the project hopes to be online by October.

This project would have the capability to produce 80 megawatts for four hours, and the average American home uses about 840 kilowatts in a month, according to California Independent System Operator.

Jason Crawford, director of economic development for the city of Santa Clarita, said the Planning Commission had final say because the project was zoned appropriately for its space.

“This type of use, in this zone, is subject to a decision of the Planning See STORAGE, page 13

1 2 · C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E

S E P T E M B E R 2023

Traffic engineers in City Hall closely monitor the patterns of traffic throughout the day, referencing live cameras and maps of the city.

TRAFFIC

Continued from page 8

Soledad Canyon Road and Bouquet Canyon Road welcome many residents throughout the day, along with many collisions. PHOTOS BY HABEBA MOSTAFA / THE SIGNAL

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projects and we’re just kind of working down the list.”

One of the city’s biggest and most regular annual investments in road safety is the overlay and slurry seal program, which spent $23 million in 2021-22, another $19 million this past year and is budgeted for $24 million for next year, to “reconstruct streets citywide,” according to Ramiro Fuentes, project manager for the city’s capital improvement projects.

In determining where to pave each year, Fuentes said the city works off five-year plans for citywide improvements that take a number of factors into account, including where other work is being planned already by developers and utilities.

“We prioritize arterials, because

they have the (highest vehicle) load,” he added. “It’s all based primarily on structural integrity.

“We care about aesthetics,” he added, “but structural integrity is what we focus on the most.”

While the city employs state-of-theart traffic-signal technology that provides real-time notifications, it also utilizes field observations, studies on signal timing and pen-and-paper research to look for patterns, down to evaluating witness statements in crash reports.

Mark Hunter, transportation planning analyst for the city’s Traffic Division, looks at every single report that gets filed by a California Highway Patrol officer and Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff ’s Station patrol deputy in city limits, just over 1,380 last year, he said. 

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C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E · 1 3

STORAGE

Continued from page 11

Commission,” Crawford wrote, adding that zone changes, general plan amendments and similar changes would be situations that require a City Council signoff.

Two residents of the adjacent Sierra Park Mobile Home Park were the only ones who gave public comment during the first discussion of the project in August 2021, citing concerns about the potential fire hazard identified in an article about similar projects.

The report noted such facilities have the potential to, if they catch fire, release toxic fumes as well as flames that aren’t extinguished with traditional means.

Turner responded by discussing the leaps in safety that have been made in the last 10 years, discussing how spacing, fire systems and setbacks from the project’s boundaries are all elements that were considered as protections for the public.

When pressed by the commission, he said there’s been one incident na-

tionally, in facilities like the one that’s being planned for Canyon Country, which was a “thermal runaway” event, he said, which was contained to the enclosure where the fire occurred.

The commission ultimately drew up a list of questions for staff to answer on the project, which included the toxic-fume risk, any challenges for fire suppression and common setback spacing. A report from city planning noted the fumes that

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burned were similar to those in a residential fire, that water could be used at fires in lithium-ion facilities and that in other areas, such projects are as close as 30 feet to residences.

A slate of larger projects drew attention in June when Acton residents became angered that county officials were looking at potentially as many as a half-dozen battery-storage facilities for its area, the first being the Hecate Humidor battery energy storage system, or BESS, a 300-megawatt

“utility-scale battery energy storage facility” seeking a 35-year operating license.

A community coalition, an impromptu town meeting that drew about 200 people and another large crowd at the Acton Town Council’s subsequent meeting influenced county officials to slow the process on that project.

However, once the project’s applicants for that facility convinced county officials the technical specs of the project qualify for consideration as a distribution facility versus a transmission one, the plan was slated for a ministerial site-plan review instead of a public hearing.

In response to the June uproar, 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger ordered a review of pending and approved BESS projects, as well as a look at the county’s ability to provide oversight or regulation in the approval of such projects.

A Department of Regional Planning official confirmed the Hecate project was approved prior to Barger’s requested report coming back to the board. 

1 4 · C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E

ZONE

Continued from page 5

According to Maria Grycan, community services liaison of Los Angeles County Fire Department Division

S E P T E M B E R 2023

3, within the SCV there are 90 zones.

Barger cited the wildfire incidents in Maui as evidence of the importance of the new campaign.

“Being able to evacuate residents efficiently is a critical task that our

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public safety officials must perform and the public need to be a partner in those efforts by knowing their zones,” said Barger in a news release.

“We are most concerned with wildfires at this moment,” said Grycan.

The campaign will utilize the Genasys Protect platform, formerly known as Zonehaven, which is a mapping tool that is used in combination with public alert and warning systems such as ALERT L.A. County and local city emergency alerting systems. Evacuation warnings or orders issued for zoned areas will include zone designations, major streets and intersections.

Residents and first responders alike will refer to the same set of zone maps in the instance of planning and conducting evacuations.

“This does not replace everything else we already do,” said Grycan. “It is an additional tool. It puts everyone on the same page — law enforcement, the Fire Department, residents.”

The zone map will be updated in real time, allowing for regular status updates of information. Information will be readily updated almost as soon as it is reported.

Zones will be utilized in emergency alert notifications. Zone changes will be color-coded according to the level of action that needs to be taken, such as yellow for warnings and red for evacuations.

Grycan said that “Know Your Zone” will be applicable for a variety of emergency situations.

“Our hope is that people will depend on this,” said Grycan.

Residents can view which zone they are located in, have access to information about emergency services in their zone, view real-time zone status updates and shelter options via an interactive map at protect.genasys.com.

Residents can also download the Genasys Protect app and “follow” their zone to be alerted of any status changes to their zone. 

Know Your Zone for Fire and Flood Emergencies

S E P T E M B E R 2023

C A N YO N CO U N T R Y M AG A Z I N E · 1 5

CALENDAR

September 23

Canyon Country Community Center 18410 Sierra Highway, Santa Clarita 91350 (661) 290-2266 | santa-clarita.com/CCCC

CANYON COUNTRY COMMUNITY CENTER

S.C.O.R.E. SCHOLARSHIP The opportunity for a recreational experience.

Applications for the winter 2024 session will be accepted between: Monday, Oct. 23 at 8:00 a.m. to Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023 at 5:00 p.m.

After-School Programs Ages 5 -12 programs run until Dec. 15 Ags 13 - 17 programs run until May 31, 2024 www.santa-clarita.com/CCCC

Adult and Senior Activities Senior Walking Club (55+)

A moderate to fast-paced walking group, which meets each week and walks the around the exterior of the facility.

Bunco (55+)

Come out and play this classic dice game that’s sure to keep the competition rolling!

Every Wednesday, Year-round 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.

CCCC GYM HOURS Tuesday and Thursday Basketball 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bring your own ball or check one out with a student or government-issued ID Monday and Wednesday Table Tennis 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bring your own paddles Friday Pickleball 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bring your own paddles

Mahjong (55+)

An opportunity to socialize, play Mahjong, and meet new friends! Bring your own Mahjong card.

Senior Makers Club (50+) Senior Makers Club is a monthly DIY project class that’s sure to inspire creativity and fun!

Low Impact Outdoor Games (18+) Have some fun in the sun while having friendly competition with these outdoor games!

Line Dancing (18+) This choreographed line dancing class is a great way to meet new friends and get your groove on!

CANYON COUNTRY LIBRARY PROGRAMS Sept. 11 6 p.m.

Sept. 18 1 p.m.

Worlds of Whimsy Little Explorers

Sept. 19

Sept. 25 1 p.m.

Little Explorers

Sept. 26

9:30 a.m. Storytime 3:30 p.m. Teen Crafts and Stuff

9:30 a.m. Storytime 3:30 p.m. LEGO block party 4:30 p.m. Pumpkin Dioramas

Sept. 27

Sept. 20

9:30 a.m. Storytime 3:30 p.m. Teen Crafts and Stuff

9:30 a.m. Cuenta Cuentos 3:30 p.m. Teen Library Eats 4 p.m.

Wild for Board Games

Sept. 21

9:30 a.m. Cuenta Cuentos

Sept. 28 Oct. 2 1 p.m.

9:30 a.m. Storytime 2 p.m.

Lifeskills: Financial Literacy 3:30 p.m. Teen Crafts and Stuff

Oct. 3

Sept. 23

Oct 4.

10 a.m.

Sept. 24 2 p.m.

Sit and Stitch From the Ground Up with Charlie Xu. Tips and tricks for gardening

Little Explorers

9:30 a.m. Storytime 3:30 p.m. Science Explorers 9:30 a.m. Cuenta Cuentos

Oct. 5

9:30 a.m. Storytime Noon Homeschool Room Resource