Centennial, California

The community is intended to be built over 25 to 30 years, with approximately one-half of the {{convert|11,700|acre|ha|adj=mid}} area designated as open space.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/realestate/keymagazine/318CITY.t.html|title=Playing Sim City For Real|author=Jon Gertner|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2007-03-18|access-date=2009-07-17|df=mdy-all}} 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.[http://mountainenterprise.com/story/surprise-centennial-testimony-is-actually-deja-vu-2/ Patric Hedlund, "'Surprise' Centennial Testimony Is Actually Deja Vu," The Mountain Enterprise, June 15, 2018, page 1]{{Cite news|url=https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/05/01/la-county-approves-controversial-20k-home-development-in-antelope-valley/|title=LA County Approves Controversial 20,000-Home Development In Antelope Valley|date=2019-05-01|work=CBS LA|language=en|access-date=2019-05-02}}

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 Antelope Valley to about 280th Street West.{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tejon-ranch-20180826-htmlstory.html|title=Building a vast new city on L.A.'s northern edges: A solution for region's housing crunch?|first=Nina |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|last=Agrawa|date= August 26, 2018|access-date=27 August 2018}} 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 {{convert|19.3|sqmi|km2|adj=mid| project}} is planned to be developed by four companies: Tejon Ranch Company, Lewis Operating Company, Pardee Homes 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-tejon-blacklist-20181210-story.html|title=A botanist criticized Tejon Ranch. So he got kicked out — along with 10,000 of his friends|date=2018-12-10|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-30}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tejon-fire-hazard-20181204-story.html|title=L.A. County considers building a new city where fire hazard is high. Is Tejon Ranch worth the risk?|date=2018-12-04|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-30}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/centennial-lawsuit/|title=Environmental Groups Are Suing to Stop Fragile Grasslands from Becoming a Planned City|last=Matthew|first=Zoie|date=2019-05-31|website=Los Angeles Magazine|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531225059/https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/centennial-lawsuit/ |archive-date=May 31, 2019 |access-date=2019-11-30}} Developers state that the project is being designed to mitigate fire risk and will include four fire stations.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-11-23/california-housing-crisis-centennial-built-as-wildfire-fortress|title=California's Housing Crunch is Pushing Developers Deeper into Dangerous Fire Zones|last1=Gopal|first1=Prashant|date=November 23, 2019|work=Bloomberg News|access-date=November 23, 2019|last2=Buhayar|first2=Noah}}

Environmental groups have opposed the housing project, because it would be built on rare ecosystems, including the largest native grassland left in California, among other concerns.{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-outthere29feb29-story.html|first1=Scott|last1=Gold|title=A stoic little town faces tomorrow|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 29, 2008}} {{Cite web|url=https://www.cnps.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/centennial-cnps-cbd-comment-letters-FEIR.pdf|title=Centennial Specific Plans - CNPS CBD FEIR Comments|last=|first=|date=2018-06-05|website=California Native Plant Society|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214030827/https://www.cnps.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/centennial-cnps-cbd-comment-letters-FEIR.pdf |archive-date=December 14, 2021 |access-date=2019-11-30}} The project is planned on the territory inhabited by four federally endangered or threatened animals, including the critically endangered California condor, and 23 animals and plants listed by under the California Endangered Species Act.{{Cite news|url=http://www.fws.gov/ventura/newsroom/release.cfm?item=69|title=USFWS Announces The Opening Of A Public Comment Period On Tejon Ranch Environmental Documents|last=Grunwald|first=Lois|date=2012-02-02|work=United States Fish & Wildlife Service|access-date=2019-11-30}} The Tejon Pass area also functions as a wildlife corridor connecting the Tehachapi Mountains, the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada, and the Central Valley.

Another major concern was traffic congestion on Interstate 5 and Highway 138 as the development would be far from many jobs.{{cite news|title=California Struggles to Sprawl in an Environmentally Responsible Way|work=Bloomberg|first=Edvard|last=Pettersson|date=August 6, 2019|access-date=August 6, 2019|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-06/california-can-t-sprawl-in-an-environmentally-responsible-way}} Concerns also included an increase of valley fever caused by the release of dust-borne spores during construction, insufficient water supply, and "poorly designed" wildlife corridors.Patric Hedlund, [http://mountainenterprise.com/story/water-traffic-valley-fever-wildlife-poor-outreach-raised-at-thinly-attended-centennial-hearing-2/ "Water, Traffic, Valley Fever, Wildlife, Poor Outreach Raised at Thinly Attended Centennial Hearing,"] The Mountain Enterprise, July 7, 2017, page 1 {{Subscription required}}

In 2008, an agreement was reached between developers and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Audubon Society of California, the Sierra Club, the Endangered Habitats League, and the Planning and Conservation League.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tejonconservancy.org/faq|title=FAQ|website=|access-date=2022-01-17}} 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."{{Cite web|url=https://mountainenterprise.com/story/as-tejon-building-projects-stall-tejon-ranch-conservancy-is-threatened-2/|title=As Tejon building projects stall, Tejon Ranch Conservancy is threatened :: The Mountain Enterprise|website=mountainenterprise.com|access-date=2019-11-30}} 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.5/deserts-was-californias-great-environmental-compromise-worth-it|title=Development plans test a decade-old conservation deal|last=Braxton|first=Jane|date=2019-02-07|work=High Country News|access-date=2019-11-30}}

In April 2019, the largest of the most vocal environmental groups in opposition to the project, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society, 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 and asked that development be halted until a new environmental review could be completed.{{Cite news|last=Solis|first=Nathan|date=2020-10-01|title=Conservationists Sue to Invalidate Centennial Project's Environmental Impact Report|url=https://scvnews.com/conservationists-sue-to-invalidate-centennial-projects-environmental-impact-report/|access-date=2020-10-03|work=SCV News|agency=Courthouse News Service|language=en-US}}

In April 2021, Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff rejected the developer's environmental impact report, citing aspects concerning wildfire risk and additional greenhouse gases generated by vehicles.{{Cite news|date=2021-04-08|title=Citing high wildfire risk, judge halts construction of massive Tejon Ranch development |url=https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2021-04-08/judge-blocks-construction-of-tejon-ranch-housing-development|access-date=2021-12-14|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US| first=Louis |last=Sahagún}} 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.Patric Hedlund, "Judge Questions Tejon Ranch Centennial Plan," The Mountain Enterprise, April 16, 2021, page 13

Tejon Ranch and the nonprofit Climate Resolve organization reached an agreement that the development would be designed specifically to combat global warming. 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:[https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-12-01/tejon-ranch-will-build-19-300-zero-emission-homes Louis Sahagún, "Environmental Group and Tejon Ranch Agree on Plan to Build 19,300 Zero-Emission Homes," December 1, 2021]

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.

• Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass
• Newhall Ranch, California

{{reflist}}

• [http://tejonranch.com/our-communities/centennial/ Official development website]
• [https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/judge-blocks-massive-tejon-ranchcorp-development-in-la-county-2021-04-08/ Center for Biological Diversity]

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Category:Geography of Los Angeles County, California

Category:Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass

Category:Proposed planned communities in California

Category:Antelope Valley

Category:Sierra Pelona Ridge

Category:Tehachapi Mountains