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A second Southwest?
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Posted by lward Tue Apr 18, 2006 13:04:15 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments Southwest resident Kevin Morrison moved from L.A. to Bakersfield two years ago to get away from the “big city.”
Now it seems the big city may be catching up with him.
In what city planners are calling the largest project in Bakersfield history, two developers — D.R. Horton and Flying Seven Ventures — have delivered proposals to add housing all the way west to Interstate 5 and almost as far south as Bear Mountain Boulevard.
The two new projects, which city planners refer to as a single development over 11 square miles, would include homes, apartments, schools, shopping centers and parks and house about 70,000 people. One development would be built on dairy land owned by James Borba. Completion would take about two decades.
The proposals were delivered only two months after the Kern County Local Agency Formation Commission allowed Bakersfield to add about 100 square miles to the city’s sphere of influence, territory city leaders are allowed to annex. 
“I think Bakersfield was big enough about 100,000 residents ago,” said Ron Wheeler, reacting to the news. “The project will have a negative impact on the area’s quality of life. The air pollution is bad enough as it is. Where will the water come from to support 70,000 additional residents? Unless a network of freeways is in place, the traffic will be terrible. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.”
Southwest resident John Stovall, a retired attorney for the water board and public policy professor at Cal State, also has his concerns.
“The proposed developments around the dairy property are huge, and we are already beginning to experience some overdevelopment. We should be very careful about creating any new entitlements now, and we should ensure that any developments meet the highest standards,” he said.
Wheeler, at least, is comforted by the estimated time-frame for completion.
“I am 66 years of age and as such, anything projected to happen in 10 years will have to be explained to me by the rest home personnel when it finally materializes. Anything projected to happen in 20 years will be subject to having my ashes scattered upon it,” he said.
Community member John Rapolla was more philosophical.
“Local residents will be impacted in one way or another from all this growth, but when we choose to live in or near a growing urban area, the problems of growth should be expected, and all we can do is find ways of coping with these problems,” he said.
According to D.R. Horton spokeswoman Cindy Pollard, their development, Gateway, will have a general plan that is a mix of commercial, single family and multifamily housing, plus room for open space, recreation and schools. Pollard said there is no set date for the start of development, and that build-out time will likely take 20 to 25 years.
Larry Pickett, Flying Seven Ventures spokesman, said while all plans are fluid, they hope the project will reach the Bakersfield Planning Commission by fall and that ground breaking will take place in two to three years. The development has commercial and residential elements, with mostly single-family residences.
Bakersfield City Councilman Harold Hanson of Ward 5 said he hadn’t noticed much of a buzz yet among Southwest residents. People don’t get that excited when they hear the “as many as 25 years” part, said Hanson.
“And most people would rather have houses than a dairy,” Hanson added, referring to the two 14,000-cow mega-daries James Borba and cousin George Borba fought to bring to Kern County. The dairies, which were approved, are in development. Both Pollard and Pickett said the proximity of the dairies to the future developments won’t be an issue. 
Stovall said that while it may be true that housing developments are better than a mega-dairy, the standards should be applied in comparison to ordinary farm land.
“Fees for development should not only cover the direct road improvements, but the indirect traffic impacts, as well, so that our road system can be maintained at its current level of service.”
Hanson said some of the traffic issues should be alleviated by the $726 million Congressman Bill Thomas obtained in highway funding for Kern County last year. Highway projects funded by that bill include the Beltway system: $100 million to complete a beltway around the north and west edges of the city.
Hanson also predicted that many of the individuals  who purchase homes will be commuters who live in the Valencia and Castaic areas.
“They’ll just jump on the 5 and go south,” he said.
Hanson said while there will likely be concerns raised about water, pollution and “critters,” the developers are used to dealing with government agencies.
“Our situation is easy compared to what they face in places like L.A. and San Diego. There they run into more opposition,” he said. 
Gordon Nipp said the Sierra Club is bound to be involved once they look into both of the projects to make sure they are smart growth.
One of the issues he has with the developments is where they are. They’re building on prime agricultural land, said Nipp.
John Fallgatter, president of Kern County’s Smart Growth Coalition, suggests the city encourage developers to build in the east by offering incentives.
City Planner Marc Gauthier said he and his associates have done everything local government can do to bring development to northeast Bakersfield.
Gauthier said because an absence of subsurface water was the reason for historical lack of growth in the Northeast, the city created a sewer assessment district for northeast Bakersfield and spent millions laying sewer lines in the area during the 1990s. The city also provided the water plant on Morning Drive in conjunction with Cal Water in 1999.
“We would love to see that area (all non-ag land) develop and therefore lose that much less ag land in west Bakersfield. The lack of activity in this area has been a continuing disappointment,” said Gauthier, who partially blames the Sierra Club for suing developments in northeast Bakersfield and cooling the interest of the financial institutions that lend the necessary money for development.
Another key issue is water, said Stovall.
“Is there an adequate water supply to serve these houses year in and year out without overdrafting the groundwater basin? Crops can be fallowed if there is a water shortage; housing cannot,” he said.
 Florn Core, the water resources manager for the city of Bakersfield, said the city was expecting such developments as the “nationals” started buying up local property — just not this fast. He said the city is looking at how they are going to provide water, and it will likely come from a combination of surface water and groundwater. Core said the city owns extensive Kern River water rights that can be dedicated to the projects, as can Kern Delta water.
“We’ll staff up as needed, and try to keep ahead of the projects by drilling wells and building water treatment plants,” said Core. 
But water is just one element that must be considered.
At the moment, Gauthier describes the department as “at a loss” grappling with how to deal with the need for roads, sewer mains, water mains, public facilities like a satellite police station, fire stations and park maintenance structures in the proposed developments.
Gauthier said both the developments’ size and location are issues.
“The scale is certainly a problem, but perhaps more troubling is the fact that the project is located so far from existing development. It may be a 40-minute drive from city hall,” he said.
Gauthier said the city has a variety of standards outlined for D.R. Horton and Flying Seven to preserve traffic volumes and address air quality.
“We have outlined clearly what we want addressed and have offered to work with them to ‘raise the bar’ for development in the city of Bakersfield,” said Gauthier. “This is actually an upside when dealing with developers who own so much property.”
Pollard said this is true, and that there are tremendous benefits to a master planned project. A community planned by one developer can take into consideration in the specific
planning process the demands, impacts and needs of a particular area, said Pollard.
“D.R. Horton is working with other developers in the area, in an unprecedented planning effort, to study cumulative environmental impacts of all projects in the area. Collaborative planning such as this will lead to organized land use planning and development benefits for the entire area,” she said. “We believe the Gateway project will truly reflect Bakersfield, and ‘Life as it should be.’”
Nipp is pleased that the development will be something of a self-contained, walkable community so residents won’t need to “fire up the SUV.”
He said both developers should take advantage of the large size of their projects to incorporate environmentally-friendly features. Using solar power to generate electricity, like Castle & Cooke is doing with its City in the Hills project, is one idea, said Nipp. Using street lights that don’t glare and cause light pollution is another, as is using drought-tolerant native plants in the landscaping.
As for Kevin Morrison, who moved to the Southwest to escape Los Angeles, he doesn’t plan on moving again — yet.
“I’m sure some Bakersfield natives consider me a part of the problem, but as long as Bakersfield continues to offer quality California living at a fraction of the L.A. cost, it will be a hot relocation destination,” said Morrison. “I think that with competent city managing and closely monitored development schedules, Bakersfield can handle the continued growth and be a model to other growing areas. That’s the kind of people we have.”

Want to get involved and get your voice heard? City Planner Marc Gauthier said to send a letter requesting to be informed of all public meetings. He said it’s best to wait until summer to submit a letter, since in reality the initial public meetings are a long way off, probably early 2007 at best.

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