City, County Votes Clear Way for Ritter Ranch Community

The mammoth Ritter Ranch project, a planned 7,200-home community west of Palmdale that had been stalled for the past 2 1/2 months, is again moving toward final approval after opponents suffered dual setbacks.

In a 3-2 vote Thursday night, the Palmdale City Council allowed the 10,625-acre project to proceed to an annexation hearing before a county panel. The vote reversed a council decision in late July that delayed the project because of concerns about its ultimate cost to the city.

Earlier Thursday, the County Board of Supervisors, also by a 3-2 margin, refused to make Ritter Ranch subject to county development restrictions for the rural Leona Valley area. The decision, although largely symbolic, may help the project to be annexed to Palmdale.

“Ritter Ranch is going to be a great benefit to this city,” said Merv Adelson, the entertainment industry executive who is a general partner in the $1-billion project with Irwin Molasky. The pair helped build the La Costa resort in San Diego County.

The Ritter project’s next and possibly last major hurdle could come Oct. 28 or Nov. 18. Those are the next meeting dates for the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, which must rule on whether the vast unincorporated area can become part of Palmdale.

Before stalling in July, the city had approved an agreement locking in the project’s development rights for up to 25 years, subject to annexation. So the only remaining complications now appear to be several lawsuits by homeowners challenging aspects of the project.

Thursday’s council vote came despite a city analysis predicting that when the project was completed in 20 years, it would generate a nearly $1 million-per-year loss to the city in today’s dollars. For the first 10 years of construction, Ritter Ranch would produce more revenue than costs because of developer fees and other payments.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, elected in 1990 on a managed-growth platform, cast the deciding vote for what would be one of Southern California’s largest development projects, siding with Councilmen Jim Root and Joe Davies. Council members David Myers and Teri Jones voted no.

“It’s probably one of the most difficult questions I’ve had to deal with,” Ledford said. Despite the deficit issue, Ledford said he was swayed by the project’s promise of 1,500 annual construction jobs and other short-term gains for the city. “I have to go for today,” he said.

What the council actually voted to do on Thursday was to agree with the county that Palmdale would get a 5% share of the project’s property-tax revenues. In July, the council had demanded 15%, and delayed a decision at that point to try to get the county to agree.

Myers called Thursday’s decision a mistake, saying if the city had held fast and not allowed the project to proceed, the county might have relented.

The Board of Supervisors’ decision on Thursday, meanwhile, exempted the 40% of the Ritter Ranch property that is within Leona Valley from having to comply with the county’s proposed Community Standards District for the area. The district would require minimum 2 1/2-acre lot sizes.

Project opponents now will not be able to argue against annexation at LAFCO contending much of Ritter Ranch would violate the county’s own standards. There appears little effect beyond that, though, because the area, if annexed into Palmdale, would not be covered by those standards anyway.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the Antelope Valley, urged that the proposed district include the Ritter Ranch property and he was supported by Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. But Supervisors Deane Dana, Ed Edelman and Gloria Molina refused, deferring the issue until Nov. 19.