ANTELOPE VALLEY : Board Delays Vote on Water System
Approval of a water system for the proposed 7,200-house Ritter Ranch development outside Palmdale was set aside for a month Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Acting at the request of Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the Antelope Valley, supervisors instructed the Department of Public Works to meet with two community groups in the area to hear their concerns about the system’s effect on the rural community.
The board also told Public Works Director Thomas A. Tidemanson to prepare an in-depth report explaining why no environmental impact report was required for the water project.
Public works officials maintained that such a report should be required for the Ritter Ranch project itself, not the water system.
But members of the Leona Valley and Antelope Acres town councils said that a full environmental review is needed because the water system alone will induce growth in the area and that a provision to tap into well water during dry spells could further deplete ground-water supplies.
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