Santa Clarita OKs Gym, Clubhouse : Zoning: Critics accused the city of providing public land for use by the private Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

The Santa Clarita City Council, denying an appeal from protesting residents, voted to let a nonprofit youth group build a $1.5-million gym and clubhouse in a public park, despite claims that the city was giving away public land to benefit a private organization.

Opponents, who gathered more than 700 signatures on petitions denouncing the project, said the proposal by the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club was poorly planned and would create traffic problems around Newhall Park. They added that the project would set a dangerous precedent because other private groups will want to build on public lands.

But the City Council, dismissing the objections as unfounded and unreasonable, approved a conditional-use permit for the project by a 4-1 vote late Tuesday night. Council members said the gym and clubhouse would benefit and be used by the entire community, not just the club.

Under an agreement also approved Tuesday, the club will lease a small portion of the park for $1 annually for 25 years. The club will replace two park buildings totaling 6,700 square feet with a 19,667-square-foot recreation building and gym. The new building will become the city’s property after the 25-year lease period elapses.

Council members praised the deal as a valuable partnership between a private group and government. “All the good outweighs any problems we might have,” Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy said.

“Busy kids are happy kids, and happy kids grow up to be good citizens,” Councilman Carl Boyer III said.

The council approved the project in principle last November after more than six months of occasionally contentious hearings. The city Planning Commission approved the permit and lease in August. The issue was brought back to the council after project opponents appealed the Planning Commission decision.

As she did a year ago, Mayor Jan Heidt voted against the project Tuesday night. “As I go through the community, I find a lot of opposition to this,” she said.

The project was opposed by the Santa Clarita Valley Civic Assn., the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and Environment and the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. The society said the buildings to be torn down were rare examples of the “international style” of architecture found in Los Angeles in the late 1940s.

Boyer said the international style is rare because it is ugly. “I think that building looks like hell,” he said.

One project opponent, Carol Rock, charged that club members littered and generally disrupted the neighborhood near one of the club’s five facilities in the valley. Council members responded that the club ran model programs.

“If you want to fight it further, take it to the courts,” Councilman Howard P. (Buck) McKeon said.