Affordable Housing, Good Schools, Long Drive : Rosamond: Clean air and lower cost of living are attractions of community near Edwards Air Force Base.
Affordable housing is a rare commodity in California. In a recent affordability survey of metropolitan areas by the National Assn. of Home Builders, California finished in last place among U.S. housing markets.
But there are communities with affordable housing scattered throughout Southern California, and the Ignacio Garcia family found one of those communities in Rosamond.
“We paid $89,000 for a brand new home,” said new resident Sandy Garcia. “The house is gorgeous, much more than I ever expected to own.”
Rosamond, an Antelope Valley high-desert community, is an unincorporated part of Kern County. It is 87 miles north of Los Angeles and 82 miles south of Bakersfield. State Highway 14 and Sierra Highway provide the major access roads to the community whose boundaries are Avenue A on the south, Backus on the north, Edwards Air Force Base on the east, and 270th Street on the west.
The Garcias--Sandy, Ignacio, and daughters Monique Marie and Jasmine Marie--moved from Lynwood to Rosamond in August. Their home has three bedrooms, two baths, an attached two-car garage, and includes a family room.
Sandy Garcia, a vocational college counselor, and Ignacio Garcia, a supervisor for a dispatch company, both commute to Los Angeles, a trip that is 90 miles one-way.
“I have to get up at three in the morning,” Sandy Garcia said, “but it’s worth it. It’s the first time we’ve been able to own a home, and we looked everywhere.”
While the Garcias face a lengthy commute, nine-year residents Sharyn and Bob Galberth live and work in Rosamond. Both Galberth’s are employed by CloudChaser Realty--Sharyn is a realtor and Bob is the broker and a developer.
The Galberths built a 2,500-square-foot home on a quarter acre in 1990; it was their second home in Rosamond. This one has four bedrooms and three baths.
“We moved to Rosamond because my husband likes the desert” Sharyn Galberth said. “We also came here because we didn’t want to raise our daughter in San Clemente.”
“The schools here are great,” Galberth said. “A country-town attitude prevails--they don’t have the attitude of restricting discipline like in L.A. County.”
Galberth believes Rosamond residents have an overall lower cost of living than residents of neighboring communities.
“Our car insurance rates are lower in Kern County compared to Los Angeles County,” she said. “Homeowner’s insurance is cheaper too. Since we’re in Kern County, our sales tax is only 6% instead of 8 1/4%. We also have more water available.”
Realtor Galberth said that the current price range for resale homes in the area is from $86,000 to $400,000. A typical three-bedroom, two-bath home with 1,100-1,300 square feet will cost about $175,000.
“There are some exclusive horse properties available as well,” she said. “A home with 2 1/2 acres would cost about $275,000.”
The Galberths first home in Rosamond was in a development called Skypark. Skypark is subdivided into 60 lots, each with a 2,000-square-foot private hangar and taxi-way. Home buyers there also purchase 1/60th ownership in the private airport on the site. Some residents commute to Los Angeles in their private planes, about a 15-minute flight. Homes there sell in the $210,000 range.
Skypark was built on land previously owned by Pancho Barnes (nee Florence Lowe). Barnes, once a famous aviatrix, owned and operated a dude ranch with a 20-room motel, swimming pool, bleachers, bar and restaurant. Her clientele were primarily the “flyboys” working out of Edwards AFB and included Gen. Chuck Yeager and Gen. Jimmy Doolittle.
Bobby and Myrlean Maley, long-time Rosamond residents, purchased their home in 1968 for $30,000. The four-bedroom, two- bath 1,600-square-foot house is on a one-acre parcel that also includes auto repair shop.
Maley, a semi-retired auto mechanic, is currently vice president of the Rosamond Chamber of Commerce.
“We moved to Rosamond from North Long Beach to get away from the city,” Maley said. “The air is clean out here, and we have beautiful summers.”
Rosamond is one of many communities that disagree with their official 1990 U.S. Census population count--7,000.
Peggy Shult, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, said: “We estimate the population to be 18,847, based on an average of 2.8 residents per electric meter.”
Rosamond’s recent population growth, from an estimated 2,600 residents in 1980, may be attributed to an abundance of affordable housing. According to Steve Smiley, manager of the Meyers Group, the median base price for a 1,350-square-foot single-family detached home in Rosamond is $95,000.
Two of the most active developers in Rosamond are Kaufman & Broad and West Venture. Avalon, a West Venture development, features two- to four-bedroom homes with prices starting at $88,990. California Ridge, a Kaufman & Broad development, has two- to four-bedroom homes starting at $81,990. Other developers include Peerless, Bonita Homes, and the Inland Housing Group.
Bernie Sandalow, manager of corporate communication at Kaufman & Broad, said: “We have a master-planned community in the works called Westpark. At completion it will feature about 2,600 homes, schools, parks and a retail center. It will eventually be a self-contained community.” The models are expected to open in early 1992.
In 1986, the community of Rosamond was stunned when state health officials discovered its children were contracting cancer at five times the normal rate. No definitive cause was identified for the specific cluster.
Maley said, “I personally think most of it was due to an incorrect population count and the way they drew the ‘lines’ around the infected people.”
“We had the state Health Department, the EPA, etc., out here, and they went overboard. They did find some contaminated spots, but they were identified and cleaned up. All conditions were mitigated. After all the testing, there’s nothing here to contaminate. We’re sitting here just as clean as can be now,” he said.
Rosamond began as a depot on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Completed in 1876, the first name of the community was Sand Creek, but it was renamed Rosamond, after his daughter, by an official of the railroad sometime between 1876 and 1885 when the first post office was established.
Mining and cattle ranching were the first industries in the area. In the 1870s a clay deposit was discovered by Dr. L. A. Crandall in the northernmost corner of Crandall Hill. In 1896, gold was discovered in the same area, now known as Tropico Hill.
About 1907, a C. C. Calkins purchased the town site and sold the mortgage to a Charles M. Stimson. Stimson presented the mortgage as a gift to the Union Rescue Mission of Los Angeles. In 1916 the Mission foreclosed on the mortgage, but until 1935 when the Mission began selling lots and installed a water plant, there was little development.
In 1933, what is now Edwards AFB was first used by military forces. The first permanent facilities were built in 1942 at what was then called Muroc Army Air Field.
“Without Edwards, there wouldn’t be a community,” Maley said. “The town was built because of Edwards.”
Rosamond is home to the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound, an eight-acre parcel currently home to an assortment of 43 felines: tiny leopards, clouded leopards, jaguarundis, snow leopards, jaguars, northern Chinese leopards, Amur leopardsand tigers.
Jeanne Maynard, executive director, said: “It’s a living wildlife preserve dedicated strictly to the preservation of big cats facing extinction. We came out here in 1977 to build the compound, and opened it to the public in 1983 as a nonprofit organization. We breed for bloodlines--to keep them pure. We only work with zoos, and don’t sell to private individuals.”
The compound is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, except Wednesdays, and offers visitors a guided walking tour that averages 45 minutes. There is no admission charge; voluntary donations are accepted. For more information, interested parties may call the compound at (805) 256-3332.
Affordable housing, a lower cost of living, peace and quiet, and clean air make Rosamond sound like an ideal community, but Rosamond isn’t perfect.
“The wind is terrible,” Sharyn Galberth said, “a real negative. Since we aren’t incorporated, we don’t have things to offer the kids such as swimming pools,” she added.
New resident Sandy Garcia misses shopping facilities.
“The only bad thing about Rosamond is that we don’t have any major stores,” she said. “We have to go to Lancaster to shop.”
Longtime resident Maley can’t find anything to dislike about Rosamond: “If I didn’t like the community as it is, I would leave. . . .”
At a Glance Population 1991 estimate: 9,292 1980-91 change: +223.9% Median age: 32.6 years Annual Income Per capita: 11,298 Median household: 25,101 Household distribution less than $15,000: 26.4% $15,000 - $25,000: 23.5% $25,000 - $40,000: 25.1% $40,000 - $75,000: 22.7% $75,000 + : 2.3%
