Palmdale Panel Postpones Decision on Ritter Ranch : Development: Hearing on the 7,200-home project is rescheduled for after the April 14 election.

The Palmdale Planning Commission has delayed the approval of the Ritter Ranch project development agreement until after this month’s election--not for political reasons, but because commissioners had no time to review the document, a commissioner said Friday.

With one abstention, the five-member commission voted 4 to 0 Thursday to postpone until May 7 a public hearing and their decision on the developer agreement.

The proposed 7,200-home, 10,625-acre project west of the city would be the largest development in Palmdale’s history and one of the largest in Southern California.

Three of the five planning commissioners are seeking election to two City Council seats, and the city will have a new mayor after the April 14 election.

If any of the commissioners are elected to the council, they will leave their commission seats vacant and the full council will decide who will fill them.

Whatever the outcome of the election, the council will have at least one new member.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich will also ask Tuesday that approval of a giant water delivery system for the Ritter Ranch area be rescinded.

A Times story about the decision disclosed that the city of Palmdale and neighbors of the project believed that an environmental impact report should be completed because the water system alone would induce growth.

Antonovich abstained from the 4-1 vote because he said he opposes the Ritter Ranch development.

In a motion to rescind the action, he said he wants the county Department of Public Works to address the growth issue and explain why it did not require an environmental impact report.

David Myers, one of the commissioners running for Palmdale City Council, said he and other members of the commission did not have enough time to read the final developer agreement because they had not received it until just before Thursday’s meeting.