Quay Valley was a proposed 75,000-resident
solar power
Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...
city in
Kings County, California
Kings County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. The population was 152,486 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Hanford.
Kings County comprises the Hanford- Corcoran, CA metropolitan statistical area, which is also inc ...
that was to have been developed by GROW Land and Water LLC (originally Kings County Ventures LLC), halfway between
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
In 2008, the developers of Quay Valley Ranch put the project on hold pending signs of an economic recovery. Planned as the largest new town in California on private land, as of April 2010, the Quay Valley project was tied up in litigation over water rights and it was unknown at that time if the project would move forward.
In 2014, a court suit about water rights was settled in favor of the project; a new application for zoning was submitted in February 2015.
On December 6, 2017, The Kings County Community Development Department received a formal withdrawal of the application from Quay Hays for the Quay Valley project.
[Kings County Board of Supervisors Action Summary of the December 12, 2017 meeting]["Fresno Bee", December 23, 2017]
Master plan
Quay Valley would have used clean and renewable energy generated from an on-site 600-megawatt
power plant
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...
. As originally proposed, the city would have consisted of about 50,000 units on built over 25 years, housing approximately 150,000 residents, using solar power for electricity. An entertainment destination district, a medical center, theme parks and an international motor speedway complex were initially proposed. The project proposal was subsequently scaled down to , 25,000 dwelling units and 75,000 residents.
Project history
The planned community was initially organized by over 250 Planning Team Members by Kings County Ventures LLC.
In July 2007, the Quay Valley planning team established a on-site research ranch to test numerous new methods and systems which will help determine what may work best for the build out of Quay Valley.
By April 2010, Kings County Ventures, LLC, the original project proponent, had been disbanded, but the partnership was still registered as active in California in 2015.
Quay Hays' latest organization, GROW Land and Water LLC, filed a lawsuit in December 2009 in connection with the sale of land by McCarthy Family Farms to another party that included the attached water rights. Quay Valley proponents had planned to use that water for the proposed new city. California law requires that new cities demonstrate that they have sufficient water supplies to survive a five-year drought. Greg Gatzka, Director of the Kings County Community Development Agency, said in April 2010 that the application before his agency to build the project had been inactive for approximately a year and a half. Gaztka added that the project had yet to meet several key requirements in addition to the water issue, including a financial feasibility study and a detailed infrastructure plan. The scarcity of
venture capital financing
Venture may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
*The Ventures, an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958
*"A Venture", 1971 song by the band Yes
*''Venture'', a 2010 EP by AJR
Games
* ''Venture'' (video game), a 1981 arcade g ...
has been cited as another obstacle. Nonetheless, Quay Hays said that he remained interested in seeing the project happen.
On December 12, 2017, Greg Gatza, Kings County Director of Community Development, reported at a meeting of the Kings County Board of Supervisors that on December 6, 2017, his department had received a formal withdrawal from Quay Hays on the Quay Valley project.
Resolution of water rights
On April 1, 2014, a Kings County jury awarded a $128.6 million verdict in favor of Kings County Ventures and GROW and against McCarthy Family Farms for breach of contract involving the sale of the water rights and against developer
John Vidovich and Sandridge Partners for intentional interference of two contracts involving water for the Quay Valley Ranch project.
Current status
In February 2015, Quay Hays submitted an application to the Kings County Community Development Department to rezone for housing and commercial development at the site. The project comprises 25,000 dwelling units to house 75,000 people (half of the 150,000 proposed initially), plus themed resort hotels and restaurants, a business park and university research park, restored wetland habitat, trails for nature walks and agriculture in a combination described as the "new ruralism." Some features included in the original application, including a race track, have been deleted. As to water supply, Hays said that they have some state water rights and are working on acquiring more. He added that the project would use half the water that typically would be used due to
water reuse
Water reclamation is the process of converting municipal wastewater or sewage and industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a variety of purposes. It is also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling. There are many ty ...
. Greg Gatzka, the Kings County Community Development Agency director, said "there are a whole lot of questions that will have to be addressed."
In March 2015,
Dirk Ahlborn, the CEO of
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, also known as HyperloopTT, is an American research company formed using a crowd collaboration approach (a mix of team collaboration and crowdsourcing) Lynda Applegate, Terri L. Griffith, and Ann Majchrzak ...
(HTT) in El Segundo, California announced a plan to build a
hyperloop
Hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportation system for both passengers and freight. The concept was published by entrepreneur Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper, where the hyperloop was described as a transportation system using capsules supp ...
test system at the Quay Valley site. Ahlborn indicated that construction could begin in 2016 to be completed in 2017 with the first rides to begin in 2018 if his company can raise $100 million in funding.
The company has said that this track will be a fully working and operational creation of the hyperloop, but that running speed will be reduced on the shortened track from Hyperloop's full potential. It is not decided whether a 5-mile loop or straight section will be constructed, and it may cross the Interstate bisecting the site.
Ahlborn said that speeds up to may be possible.
Quay Hays expects to break ground on the new community in 2016, including a working version of the Hyperloop, estimated to cost $100–150 million.
In March 2016, Hays submitted a Preliminary Design Plan for Quay Valley to the Kings County Community Development Agency.
On December 6, 2017, The Kings County Community Development Department received a formal withdrawal from Quay Hays of the application for the Quay Valley project, effectively terminating the proposal.
References
Further reading
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* {{cite news , url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Hyperloop-s-1st-home-may-be-Central-Valley-6102049.php , title=Hyperloop's 1st home may be Central Valley eco-utopia , newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle , date=February 26, 2015 , author=Baker, David R. , access-date=March 5, 2015
External links
Quay Valley Preliminary Design Plan
Kings County, California
Proposed planned communities in California