Centennial, California is a proposed master-

planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

Tejon Ranch Tejon Ranch Company (), based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. The company was incorporated in 1936 to organize the ownership of a large tract of land that was consolidated from four Mexican land gr ...

in northwestern Los Angeles County between Bakersfield and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

.Patric Hedlund, "Centennial Hearing at Gorman School Thursday, 6 P.M.," ''The Mountain Enterprise,'' June 30, 2017, page 6 It is situated in the far western

Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and t ...

at the foothills of the

Sierra Pelona The Sierra Pelona, also known as the Sierra Pelona Ridge or the Sierra Pelona Mountains, is a mountain ridge in the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Located in northwest Los Angeles County, the ridge is bordered on the north by the San An ...

and

Tehachapi Mountains The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwe ...

.LA Curbed: "Tejon Ranch Project Could Affect 27 Plants and Animals" (with map)
3 February 2012. It would be built along

California State Route 138 State Route 138 (SR 138) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that generally follows the northern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and the western Mojave Desert. The scenic highway begins in the west at its ...

east of

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

and northeast of Quail Lake.Patric Hedlund, "'Huge' Step for Tejon's Centennial Plan." ''The Mountain Enterprise,'' November 28, 2014, page 13
/ref>

Project description

The community is intended to be built over 25 to 30 years, with approximately one-half of the area designated as open space. It comprises 19,333 houses, including single- and multifamily structures. The Tejon Ranch Company has agreed to set aside 18% of housing as affordable housing. The developers have stated they plan to attract local jobs in order to employ the anticipated number of adult residents. The projected population is 57,000.Patric Hedlund, "'Surprise' Centennial Testimony Is Actually Deja Vu," ''The Mountain Enterprise,'' June 15, 2018, page 1
/ref> The project lies between a point about a mile east of the intersection of Interstate 5 and California Highway 138 eastward past Quail Lake into the western

to about 280th Street West. It is southeast of Gorman, west of Neenach.Patric Hedlund, "Tejon Ranch Positioned to Begin Building in Lebec, Gorman and Grapevine," ''The Mountain Enterprise,'' May 21, 2021 The is planned to be developed by four companies:

Tejon Ranch Company Tejon Ranch Company (), based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. The company was incorporated in 1936 to organize the ownership of a large tract of land that was consolidated from four Mexican land gr ...

, Lewis Operating Company,

Pardee Homes Pardee Homes is a residential home building company founded in 1921 which currently builds new homes and planned communities in Southern California and the Las Vegas, Nevada, metro region. The company was founded by George Pardee Sr, who was joi ...

and Standard Pacific Homes, on the property of Tejon Ranch. The site is located in "high" and "very high" fire hazard severity zones as defined by the

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is the fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in the U.S. state of California. It is responsible for fire protection in various areas under state responsi ...

. According to county planning documents, CalFire recorded "31 wildfires larger than 100 acres within five miles of Centennial, including four within the project’s boundaries" from 1964 to 2015. Developers state that the project is being designed to mitigate fire risk and will include four fire stations.

Public reaction

Environmental groups have opposed the housing project, claiming that it would be built on rare ecosystems, including the largest native grassland left in California, among other concerns. The project is planned on the territory inhabited by four federally endangered or threatened animals, including the critically endangered

California condor The California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus'') is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to nort ...

, and 23 animals and plants listed by under the

California Endangered Species Act In 1970 California became one of the first states in the U.S. to implement an act that conserves and protects endangered species and their environments. The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) declares that "all native species of fishes, amph ...

. The Tejon Pass area also functions as a wildlife corridor connecting the

, the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...

, the Sierra Nevada, and the Central Valley. Another major concern was traffic congestion on

and

Highway 138 Highway 138 may refer to: Canada * Ontario Highway 138 * Prince Edward Island Route 138 * Quebec Route 138 Costa Rica * National Route 138 India * National Highway 138 (India) Japan * Japan National Route 138 * Fukuoka Prefectural R ...

as the development would be far from many jobs. Concerns also included an increase of

valley fever A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

caused by the release of dust-borne spores during construction, insufficient water supply, and "poorly designed" wildlife corridors.Patric Hedlund
"Water, Traffic, Valley Fever, Wildlife, Poor Outreach Raised at Thinly Attended Centennial Hearing,"
''The Mountain Enterprise,'' July 7, 2017, page 1

Legal actions

In 2008, an agreement was reached between developers and the

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...

, the

Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

of California, the Sierra Club, the Endangered Habitats League, and the Planning and Conservation League. The agreement stated that 90% of Tejon Ranch would be protected if the conservation groups agreed not to oppose development on the remaining 10%. Erecting structures would be forbidden, but the ranch could continue to be used for "profitable agriculture, mining, grazing and exclusive commercial hunting operations." The development of Tejon Mountain Village is another community allowed under the agreement. Opponents of the agreement claimed that much of the land was too steep and remote to be buildable and that Tejon's biodiversity was protected under federal laws. In April 2019, the largest of the most vocal environmental groups in opposition to the project, the

Center for Biological Diversity The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit membership organization known for its work protecting endangered species through legal action, scientific petitions, creative media and grassroots activism. It was founded in 1989 by Kieran Suckl ...

and the

California Native Plant Society The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is a California environmental non-profit organization (501(c)3) that seeks to increase understanding of California's native flora and to preserve it for future generations. The mission of CNPS is to con ...

, filed a suit against the County Board of Supervisors. The suit claimed the Board's approval of the Centennial project violated the

California Environmental Quality Act The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a California statute passed in 1970 and signed in to law by then-Governor Ronald Reagan, shortly after the United States federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), t ...

and asked that development be halted until a new environmental review could be completed. In April 2021 Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff rejected the developer's environmental impact report, citing aspects concerning

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

risk and additional

greenhouse gases A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...

generated by vehicles. Tejon Ranch stated that any risk of wildfire "outside the project will be reduced to less than significant," but Beckloff wrote that the statement was not supported by analysis. Tejon Ranch and the nonprofit Climate Resolve organization reached an agreement that the development would be designed specifically to combat

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. The agreement includes the installation of nearly thirty thousand electric-vehicle chargers at residences and commercial businesses. The plan will include other incentives to support the purchase of 10,500 electric vehicles, school buses and trucks. The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that:

The compromise also requires funding for fire protection and prevention measures, including fire-resilient planning and vegetation management strategies that would also benefit neighboring communities. It also directs the creation of an organization empowered to produce annual progress reports.

The parties also agreed that the development would include:Gary Meyer, "Lawsuit Over Tejon Ranch' Centennial Project Settled," ''The Mountain Enterprise,'' December 10, 2021, page 12 * Zero greenhouse gas emissions. * Wildfire prevention by funding fire-protection and prevention measures. * Transparency in public access to records, including forming an organization empowered to monitor progress on results and benefits.

References

External links

Official development website

Center for Biological Diversity
{{Coord, 34, 46, 45, N, 118, 41, 45, W, display=title Geography of Los Angeles County, California Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass Proposed populated places in the United States Planned communities in the United States Antelope Valley Sierra Pelona Ridge Tehachapi Mountains

Project description

Public reaction

Legal actions

See also

References

External links