Builders to Pay More for Road Improvements : Santa Clarita Valley: For each house built in unincorporated areas, developers will be charged $4,000.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to increase by about one-third the fees charged builders in unincorporated portions of the Santa Clarita Valley to pay for road improvements.

On the motion of Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, the board adopted the new fee schedule and also directed the county staff to attempt to negotiate a common fee schedule with the city of Santa Clarita.

Under the new schedule approved Thursday, the fee for a single-family house will be $4,000, up from $2,650.

The fee for an apartment unit will rise from $1,855 TO $2,800.

Shopping center developers will pay $4,000 an acre, up from $2,650.

Antonovich said higher fees are needed to pay for road improvements, particularly the proposed new California 126 that would run roughly along the northern border of the city of Santa Clarita and would eventually link the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways.

He said that the cross-town expressway originally was designed as a two-lane highway but because of population growth has been redesigned as a four-lane freeway.

The state Department of Transportation recently began a study of possible routes for the expressway.

But state officials say it will be years before the thoroughfare can be constructed unless local governments make a substantial contribution.

Lynn Harris, Santa Clarita’s community development director, said that the city has long sought a common fee schedule with the county “so that we are not in unfair competition with one another.”

Harris predicted that the city “will raise its fees, which I believe are now quite similar to the county’s, to match those approved by the supervisors.”