Palmdale Takes Steps to Annex Leona Valley : Development: The City Council passes a preliminary annexation measure despite requests for a delay from residents, who complain that a proposed 7,200-house project will overwhelm

The Palmdale City Council has taken the first step to annex a 12,600-acre area, paving the way for a 7,200-house development that would be one of the largest in Southern California and increase the sprawling city’s size and population by almost one-third.

The council voted 5 to 0 Thursday night to begin proceedings to annex much of the Leona Valley, west of the city, where developers propose to build the 10,625-acre Ritter Ranch project. The project would transform about 17 square miles of mostly undeveloped ranchland into a community of about 20,000 inhabitants over two decades.

Palmdale now has about 65,000 residents in 70 square miles.

The annexation measure passed despite requests for delay from Leona Valley residents, who complained that the massive project would overwhelm their rural district. About 2,000 people live in the area now.

“This could destroy this valley,” said Bob Mallicoat, a rancher who is the president of the newly formed Leona Valley Town Council. Mallicoat said thousands of new suburban dwellers would have “nothing in common” with current residents, many of whom farm and raise livestock.

Spokesmen for the developers, entertainment industry executives Merv Adelson and Irwin Molasky, have said they want to create a low-density community with the rural style of Old Town San Diego, but with quality similar to the upscale La Costa resort near San Diego, which was built by Adelson and Molasky. They sold that project to a Japanese concern in 1987.

“They don’t want a development for the 1990s. They want a development for the 21st Century,” said Ritter Ranch project manager Peter Wenner. He said nearly 7,600 acres of the 10,625-acre project would remain open space, in part because the San Andreas earthquake fault traverses the property.

Palmdale city officials, meanwhile, have indicated satisfaction with the size and content of the project. Palmdale Planning Director Clyde Evans said it could receive planning approvals from the city’s Planning Commission and City Council by early next year. The developer hopes to start construction by 1993.

“It almost becomes a city unto itself. It will have a very significant effect on the community,” Evans said. The planning director said the project will bring even more attention to fast-growing Palmdale, but some residents are more concerned about expected increases in traffic and other urban woes.

Those issues likely will be debated in the coming weeks when the developer and city officials plan to release a draft environmental impact report and specific plan for the project. A series of public hearings will be held by the Planning Commission and City Council.

Only after the city agencies take final action on those items, possibly early next year, can the annexation request be considered by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission. A spokeswoman for the commission said its decision could come four to six months later.

Palmdale officials said they are seeking to annex the larger 12,600-acre area, even though the project would cover only 10,625 acres, so that the proposed new western boundaries of the city would be relatively even, and so the city would control adjoining areas.

The proposed annexation area begins about four miles west of the Antelope Valley Freeway. It runs westward from 40th Street West to Bouquet Canyon Road, and from Ritter Ridge south to the Sierra Pelona ridgeline.

The developer bought an option on the former Ritter family ranchland last year.

Ritter Park Associates, as the Adelson-Molasky development partnership is known, wants the area to be annexed to Palmdale. City officials say the move will give them the planning jurisdiction to properly control the project.

But opponents of the giant development believe they might have a better chance to reduce it if the land remains unincorporated county territory.

Mallicoat said he believes county Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, would be more receptive to residents’ concerns. “I think we’d do better with the county,” said Mallicoat, who raises llamas on his ranch of more than 300 acres.

The developer had unveiled an even larger project last November, involving about 11,500 acres and 8,500 housing units. But the developer later eliminated about 900 acres and 1,300 units, in the process removing the project from the Acton and Agua Dulce areas.

Planning officials in Lancaster and Palmdale said the Antelope Valley’s only comparable project is the proposed California Springs community near Lancaster. Planned by a trio of developers, it would be smaller, at about 5,700 acres, but have more homes, with up to 22,000 units planned.