Proposed annexation of property at Tucker and Red Apple takes step forward as city refers matter to Local Agency Formation Commission
The proposed annexation of a property at the northwest corner of Tucker and Red Apple roads moved closer to reality on Jan. 17 as the Tehachapi City Council voted 4-0 to recommend the annexation to the Kern County Local Agency Formation Commission.
All members of the council were present but one seat is vacant due to Christina Scrivner’s resignation late last year.
The council held a public hearing on the related Red Apple Tract addendum to the General Plan Environmental Impact Report and heard a second reading and then adopted an ordinance to allow the annexation, as recommended by the Tehachapi Planning Commission last November.
The property has been owned by the Burgeis family since the 1950s. The property is proposed to be pre-zoned as commercial, although there are no immediate plans for its development.
The council also heard a second reading and adopted an ordinance amending sections of the city’s codes to be in line with state and county code changes. Also adopted was a resolution setting fees for planning, engineering and building services based upon a recent study. Some fees are proposed to increase, some to stay the same and others to decrease.
As recommended by staff, the council also approved a request from Saticoy Development Company, LLC, to extend the entitlement for Tentative Tract Map 6714 by six months.
The Tentative Tract Map was first approved in 2008 for a 74-lot single family neighborhood located west and adjacent to Cherry Lane Estates. The property is bounded on the north by Cherry Lane and on the south by Pinon Street. Multiple extensions were granted by the city and due to changes in state law and the property changed hands.
The current owner requested an extension to allow it more time to comply with requirements of Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District related to a flowage easement on the west side of the property.
Unrelated to the action, the subdivision was among those identified by the water district as examples of what it claimed as a “pattern and practice” of violations of the California Environmental Quality Act by the city in a lawsuit filed in September 2021. The lawsuit is still pending and the city denied the allegations.
CLOSED SESSION
The council also held a closed session at the end of the meeting, but a spokesperson said no reportable action took place.
The agenda noted that the council would confer in closed session with the city manager and public works director to provide direction for water rights negotiation with the firm Comprehend and Copy Nature, LLC, and also confer with legal counsel regarding existing litigation between the city and Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District.
The water district’s September 2021 lawsuit also challenged a proposed residential subdivision at Tucker and Highline roads known as The Address at
Tehachapi. The company developing The Address at Tehachapi was Comprehend and Copy Nature, LLC, based in Orange County.
At the Jan. 9 meeting of the Tehachapi Planning Commission, Development Services Director Jay Schlosser said the applicant had formally withdrawn its plan for the 232-home project.
The water district’s annual watermaster report for 2021 showed that Comprehend and Copy Nature, LLC, owned 88 acre feet of water rights in the Tehachapi Basin. Of those rights, 18 acre feet were previously acquired from the Frank C. Mendez Sr Living Trust and 70 acre feet were previously acquired from Jeffrey and Heidi Ciachurski.
Jeff Ciachurski is chief executive officer of Greenbriar Capital (U.S.), LLC, the developer of Sage Ranch. The same water district report showed that Ciachurski owned 114 acre feet of water rights but in September he transferred 76 acre feet of water rights to Greenbriar. The company is required to provide water rights to the city before it can proceed with development. The next step for Sage Ranch is to have its Precise Development Plan approved. The plan was submitted to the city on Nov. 18 and the city reported earlier this month that it reviewed the documents and provided the developer with its first set of comments on the project in late December.