Ritter Ranch Wins 3rd Court Victory : Development: Foes say master-planned project violates Palmdale General Plan. Two other suits had challenged environmental reports.

The third time’s the charm for Ritter Ranch, which scored another victory Thursday in the courts.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne issued a tentative ruling in favor of the developer of the 7,200-home Ritter Ranch master-planned community in west Palmdale.

The decision is Wayne’s last in three lawsuits brought by the Leona Valley Town Council against Ritter Ranch.

“The ruling . . . sends a clear message that Ritter Ranch is one of the best examples of what a master-planned community should encompass--a well-conceived, carefully planned and designed project,” project general manager Peter Wenner said.

Town Council member Paul Sloane said Wayne’s most recent ruling, which rejected the council’s claim that the project was inconsistent with Palmdale’s General Plan, was expected.

“It became apparent to us after the first ruling, and particularly after the second one, that we (should have) no expectation of being victorious at all today,” he said. “Our attorney made it clear to us from the very beginning that our chance of winning in Superior Court was very slim.”

Just last week, the Town Council filed appeals of the decisions in the first two suits, Sloane said. An appeal of Thursday’s suit is likely as well.

“We feel we have very strong cases,” Sloane said. “Our objective in this whole thing is to affect change. They want to do things that are not in the best interest of the region.”

The Leona Valley Town Council filed three suits over a host of concerns involving Ritter Ranch. Sloane estimated that the suits have cost $20,000 in legal fees so far.

The first suit alleged that the environmental impact report prepared for the 10,625-acre project failed to meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. Wayne dismissed that suit in the fall.

The second suit, filed by the Leona Valley and Antelope Acres town councils, argued that Los Angeles County Waterworks should have done an environmental impact report for a water pipeline that is to be built to serve Ritter Ranch. Late last year, Wayne ruled that the report the city of Palmdale did for the development had adequately addressed the impact of the 16-mile pipeline.

Rulings on any appeals are not expected for as long as six months.