Council Vote for Annexation Clears Way for Ritter Ranch : Palmdale: Work on the massive development could begin by next October. The 17-square-mile addition will increase the city’s size by 21%.

Construction could begin by next October on the mammoth Ritter Ranch community planned for west Palmdale, the project’s manager said Friday, following a final City Council decision to annex the area.

The council, as expected, voted 4 to 1 Thursday night to add the 17-square-mile area to Palmdale, the largest annexation in the city’s 30-year history.

Over a period of 20 years, plans call for Ritter Ranch to grow into a community of about 20,000 residents.

The council’s decision, when formally recorded later this month, will increase Palmdale’s size by 21%--from about 80 square miles to nearly 100 square miles--making Palmdale one of the largest cities in the county in terms of area.

The building site is now mostly pastures, ranches, orchards and mountain ridges.

Peter Wenner, project manager for the developer, Ritter Park Associates, said he hopes the massive work of preparing the largely rural area for development could begin by next October, with plans for construction of the first houses tentatively set for early 1995.

Although Palmdale in May approved development entitlements for the project, Ritter Ranch still faces several hurdles.

Community opponents have filed several lawsuits and the developer still must obtain city permission to form an assessment district to fund improvements in the area.

Wenner said the development firm, a partnership headed by former La Costa resort builders Merv Adelson and Irwin Molasky, plans to build an average of about 500 dwellings a year, spread among different price ranges and a mix of houses, townhouses, condos and apartments.

The property is west of the Antelope Valley Freeway and bounded by Bouquet Canyon Road on the west, 35th Street West on the east, Elizabeth Lake Road on the north and Avenue T on the south.

Councilman David Myers, who had previously complained that the massive project would be a financial burden to the city, cast the lone dissenting vote Thursday.

A city-commissioned report said that when the project is complete, it will be a nearly $1 million-a-year financial drain on Palmdale.

Under state law, Palmdale receives only a small share of the property taxes paid by its residents.

A spokeswoman for the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, which processes annexation requests, said the Ritter Ranch annexation will take effect soon after LAFCO receives the necessary documents from Palmdale, probably later this month.