Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               RON SIDDLE/Valley Press

Questions Raised about Federal Analysis and Habitat Plan for Tejon Mountain Village 04/28/09

NATURAL BEAUTY - A sign on Interstate 5 advertises that 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch is "Preserving California's Legacy." Officials from Tejon Ranch Company recently reached an agreement with five major environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Audubon California, to preserve 240,000 acres for plant and animal life.

Tejon Preservation Deal Reached

Developer to set aside 240,000 acres for wildlife

By ALISHA SEMCHUCK
Valley Press Staff Writer

However, the work appears to be getting closer to starting. Officials from Tejon Ranch Company recently reached an agreement with five major environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Audubon California, to preserve 240,000 acres for the plant and animal life that have lived on that land for centuries.

The environmental preservation agreement enables the Tejon Ranch Co., a real estate developer and almond grower traded on the New York Stock Exchange, to proceed with plans to build homes and businesses on the remaining 30,000 acres.

Tejon Ranch, a union of four Mexican land grants from the mid- 1800s, stretches over 422 square miles and straddles the Kern-Los Angeles county line.

The proposed Centennial development project will be situated on the Los Angeles County side of the divide, and Tejon Mountain Village will be built in the Kern County portion, according to plan documents.

A variety of factors, including fulfilling requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act and meeting opposition from environmentalists and residents in nearby Frazier Park, kept the projects from moving ahead as the developer tried to address concerns. Some Lebec and Frazier Park residents still reject the projects.

"The Tejon Ranch Co. hadn't conceded anything new in terms of this latest agreement," said Anita Anderson, whose husband, Eric, is president of the Mountain Communities Town Council, an advisory coalition of nine communities, including Lockwood Valley in Ventura County, Gorman, Neenach and Pinon Pines.

Anderson contends that when Tejon Ranch officials met with the major environmental groups, they did not ensure proportionate representation from local residents.

"So the locals felt shut out. They weren't brought to the table. They should have brought all of the stakeholders to the table," she said.

"There is some concern on impact (to the) infrastructure."

But the plans are advancing, according to administrators in the planning departments of both counties.

Tejon Ranch Co. officials submitted a draft Specific Plan for Tejon Mountain Village to the Kern County Planning Department on May 14 for its review, said Cheryl Casdorph, a supervising planner with the agency.

That document shows how the developer's proposal conforms with the county General Plan, yet is site-specific, she noted.

The Specific Plan focuses on physical and environmental constraints, seismic hazards, steep slopes, flood issues - "the safety elements," Casdorph said.

Land use, the types of construction that will be allowed, is also highlighted in the plan.

For that particular project, the county permits a maximum of 3,450 residential units, mostly single-family detached homes, she noted. Lots will vary in size.

"The smallest lot allowable in Kern County is 6,000 square feet," Casdorph said. The project will consist of a mix of larger custom homes and "clustered, single-family" dwellings.

A small amount of commercial development has been included in the plans - "retail shops for the convenience of residents and at least one hotel," the supervising planner added.

"This becomes the project description," she said.

The consultant, ICF Jones & Stokes of Irvine, is working on a draft environmental impact report.

The EIR possibly will be completed by the end of summer, Casdorph said.

"We don't have a time line yet, but it's going to be in 2008" when the draft EIR will go to the planning department for review, she said.

The planning staff will take anywhere from 30 to 60 days to examine the document.

"It might require changes. We work with the consultant to make changes," Casdorph said.

Once reviewed by county staff, the Specific Plan and the draft EIR will be released for public review and comment.

Centennial, expected to bring as many as 23,000 more residential units to the area, is a bit further along in the planning stages, according to Jon Sanabria, the chief deputy director for the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Department.

The site Specific Plan proposes between 22,000 and 23,000 residential units, he said.

Other components of the plan include commercial use such as retail shops, offices and restaurants; institutional use such as schools, churches, fire and sheriff's stations and maybe medical facilities; and sites for industrial use.

"More likely it's clean industrial, no steel mills," Sanabria said, noting the concern from some residents regarding the potential for negative impacts on air quality.

"We're working very diligently with the people who are preparing the report - the consultants," he added, referring to the draft EIR in progress by BonTerra Consulting in Pasadena.

"In terms of where we are," Sanabria said, "our staff is reviewing the draft EIR. That draft will be circulated to agencies and the public.

"Within two to three months, we hope to have something out there. No later than October. That's what we're shooting for. That's the applicant's schedule. That's their wish. Whether we get there or not depends on how fast we review the work."

In the meantime, opponents of the plan, who moved to the area to escape densely populated urban communities, fear the natural woodlands will turn into concrete and steel constructs.

"What will be the public cost?" Anderson asked. "How will air quality affect the middle school?" El Tejon Middle School sits a stone's throw from Tejon Ranch headquarters, she said.

Town Councilwoman Linda MacKay also worries about air quality, especially because heavily traveled I-5 brings a lot of exhaust fumes into what once was a pristine environment, she said.

As former Town Council president, MacKay said, during her term she arranged with the state Air Resources Board to have a mobile unit air monitor for a year.

"It demonstrated that we definitely had a problem with ozone." MacKay said. "Our air quality was worse than downtown Los Angeles and worse than Burbank in the middle of the San Fernando Valley during that year. So that's a concern."

Drivers of big rigs that park overnight at a truck stop at the nearby Grapevine leave their vehicles idling for hours, giving off emissions.

"I've counted about 100 trucks a night idling," MacKay said.

Because there's not much opportunity for employment in Frazier Park, Lebec and surrounding communities, she pointed out that most residents commute.

Another nearly 30,000 homes between Centennial and Tejon Mountain Village means that many more commuters on the road and that many more vehicles sending fumes into the air.

MacKay said the groundwater situation at that end of the Antelope Valley is as dismal as in Palmdale, Lancaster and the eastern Valley communities.

"When it comes to groundwater, we're already compromised," she said.

MacKay, also a member of TriCounty Watchdogs, a local environmental organization, said, "We're aware at some of the wells, the groundwater table has dropped. We've been monitoring some of the wells. One is the high school well. For a period of time, it was dropping five feet a month, which is quite alarming."

MacKay said Tejon Ranch Co. is keeping Tejon Lake, a body of water formerly called Castac Lake, "artificially elevated for aesthetic reasons."

"Normally, it would be a marsh. It (was) a seasonal body of water that (went) up and down."

MacKay said Cuddy Creek, which "would normally flow into the lake," can't do so because the natural marsh can't hold any more water."

"A couple of years ago, we had a problem with flooding. A middle school flooded. They had to send the kids home. The roads were a mess."

When MacKay contemplates the proposed development, she said, she's "not convinced it's going to be as wonderful as a lot of folks believe."

Not everyone who lives there sees the proposed development as detrimental.

Pam Low, president of the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce, said her organization tries "to stay out of politics."

However, Low added, "most of the businesses want the development because it would help business."

"We have mixed emotions about it," said Dean Tait, who with his father, Don, owns and operates Tait Ranch Fly Fishing.

"We think there needs to be smart growth and reasonable growth because the economy is stagnant. If there's not some growth ... to help spur the economy, the whole area could become a ghost town," he said.

As long as an EIR is approved with all the required procedures in place and the developer adheres to the mandates, Tait said he thinks the new construction wouldn't pose too much of a problem.

However, he added, "with growth comes issues. There's a balance of good and bad with all change. We certainly don't want to see (this) become the San Fernando Valley."

The biggest fear comes from residents worried that, in 20 years, the developer will want to build more than what has been proposed at this time, Tait said. Residents fear "it will become uncontrollable growth."

"We're not gung ho" about the development, Tait said. "But you can't stop everything, and people have the right to do something with their property. It's really a tough question, a tough balancing act, to spur the economy without destroying the quality of life.

"We don't want to lose the charm of the area," said Tait, whose family owns 300 acres in Frazier Park, land that's been in the family for four generations. "We want to retain the rural flavor."

Robert Stine, president and chief executive officer of Tejon Ranch Co., could not be reached for comment when this story was written.

However, Stine vowed to maintain the integrity of the wildlife habitat when he and leaders from the environmental groups announced the agreement on May 8.

"Our vision has always been to preserve California's legacy and provide for California's future," Stine said.

"The agreement we reached is good for conservation, good for California and good for the company and its shareholders."

 Webmaster