Westside Reader April 2016

6 • THE Reader
newhall
Newhall Auditorium opens
By Pearl obispo
Staff Writer
Newhall Elementary School is generally
known as the first school in the
Newhall School District and the second
school in the Santa Clarita Valley — but
its auditorium may be the school's best-kept
historical secret.
Home to community events and school
plays, the auditorium was also part of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress
Administration, a program designed to employ
millions of unemployed people to carry
out public works projects during the Great
Depression.
For the past four decades, the auditorium,
built in the 1930s, has remained silent —
being nothing more than a home to papers,
books and school supplies. But now the auditorium
is undergoing a major renovation
project, thanks in large part to NSD board
members and voters who approved Measure
E, a bond that ensures building upgrades
throughout the school district.
Recently, NSD board members broke
ground on the nearly $5 million renovation
The Newhall Elementary Auditorium was once a warehouse to store
school supplies. PHoTo By PATTi RASmuSSEN
project, which is scheduled to be complete by
December of this year.
Dr. Mark Winger, former NSD superintendent,
said this project was a long time in the
making. Winger began the project when he
was still superintendent in 1998. He said it
took two voter-approved bond measures to
get to where they’re at now. Under the first
measure, efforts were made to clear out the
auditorium and buy a building formerly
owned by the Gas Company to store all the
school supplies. A second bond was needed
to focus on the actual renovation of the auditorium.
“The folks at Theater Arts for Children really
pushed hard for (a new warehouse),”
Winger said. “When we came up to the second
bond, we expressly made that a piece of
the bond that we were going to commit
money in doing this theater.”
Upon its completion, the auditorium,
which replaced a former structure destroyed
in a 1939 fire and survived the 1994 Northridge
earthquake, will be transformed into a
21st century, state-of-the-art venue that will
house an improved sound and lighting system,
stadium-style seating for 529 people and
expanded stage, while retaining
its Art Deco style. It will be
known as the Newhall Family
Theater for the Performing
Arts.
NSD Superintendent Paul
Cordeiro said the auditorium
would not only blend nicely
with what is currently going
on in Newhall, but will also be
a space for all the community
to enjoy.
“This is a total transformation
into a professional performing
venue,” Cordeiro said.
“It complements all the efforts
to bring a renaissance to
Downtown Newhall. The
Old Town Newhall receives clock from the Rotary Club
By Beau Harper
Staff Writer
The Santa Clarita Rotary club donated
a two faced clock to the
City of Santa Clarita that has been
installed in Downtown Newhall.
Lou Esbin, President of the Santa
Clarita rotary club said the clock was
donated to commemorate the 55th anniversary
of the Rotary club in Santa
Clarita The clock is a two-faced and
two-sided clock with a measuring about
30-inch-wide and a total height of about
12 feet.
“It’s tied into the atomic clock in Colorado
through a GPS tracking device.”
Esbin said. The clock features Victorian
numerals and brass counter-balanced
hands.
“The face of the clock is LED-backlit
and goes on at dusk by itself and shuts
off at sunrise.’ According to Esbin
The Santa Clarita city council presented
the Rotary Club with a certificate
of appreciation on behalf of the
City.
The clock was placed in front of
Newhall Refinery on Main street in Old
Town Newhall. R
users will be first and foremost
the kids at Newhall Elementary.
But other schools, as
well as performing youth
groups throughout the community,
will be invited to use
it.”
Christy Smith, NSD governing
board member, said efforts
were made to ensure the renovations
honored the auditorium’s
historical significance
within the community.
“We are so proud as
Newhall Elementary staff, family, board
members to be able to preserve this beautiful
piece of history,” Smith said at the recent
April 2016
officials and governing board of the Newhall District School District broke ground on the nearly $5 million dollar
renovation project for the Newhall Elementary Auditorium. The auditorium will now be known as the
Newhall Family Theater for the Performing Arts. PHoTo By PEARl oBiSPo
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital has submitted
to the City of Santa Clarita an
entitlement application for modifications
to its previously approved development
agreement and master plan. The revisions
are to ensure that the hospital’s new inpatient
building will meet current building
codes as well as local healthcare needs and
proposes no changes to the building height
or number of patient rooms. The Planning
Commission is expected to review the application
in May 2016.
The hospital’s master plan, prepared in
2008, proposed a campus square footage of
667,434 based on the architect’s best estimate
of future square footage. As the inpatient
building and new central plant
underwent final design, the actual square
footage changed because state building codes
required several modifications. State mandates
include eight-foot-wide corridors in all
public and patient areas, a new dedicated
corridor between the food storage and
preparation areas, upgrades to storage facilities,
and a larger loading dock with two separate
elevators. Additionally, the master plan
originally accounted for one surgical suite as
part of the expanded women’s unit. Since
A rendering of the Newhall Family Theater for the Performing Arts.
groundbreaking, "to renew its purpose and
to hand it back to City of Santa Clarita as a
benefit for all of us to share.” R
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital
submits entitlement application
then, demand has developed for an additional
surgical suite. Total square footage requested
under the new application for the campus is
698,000, an increase of 30,566 square feet
(5%). The majority of the square footage increases
would occur within the basement,
first, and second floors, with minimal increase
on the top three floors.
The application also proposes a relocation
of the rooftop helipad to allow direct elevator
access to the hospital’s emergency department
and requests a zone change from
Public Institution (PI) to Specific Plan (SP),
consistent with city guidelines.
“Our initial proposal, developed more than
ten years ago, was our best estimate of space
required,” said Roger Seaver, President and
CEO of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. “As the
design was fine-tuned to meet the new state
requirements intended to reduce cross contamination
potential, it became evident that
the approved square footage was inadequate.
We also recognized the efficiency of adding a
needed surgical room before construction
commenced. We are now requesting the appropriate
final square footage to fulfill our
See Hospital, page 15