Newhall Ranch is a proposed large scale master-planned community in an unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County along the Santa Clara River in the westerly portion of the Santa Clarita Valley. The development was first conceived in the 1980s by Newhall Land, a land management company which created for the master community planning of nearby Valencia in the 1960s. During the decades the project has been in planning, it has faced legal actions, environmental concerns, and several changes in investors. The landmark California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, has been used to challenge the development even after it received planning approvals. While these lawsuits have been dismissed as merely tactics to block or delay the project by some, others claim the environmental law has led to a better-designed project while saving crucial habitat.