ANTELOPE VALLEY press

Developers Plan Copa de Oro Groundbreaking

Friday, May 23, 2003
Antelope Valley Press

By ANN WISHART
Valley Press Business Editor

WILLOW SPRINGS - Developers should break ground on a $200 mlllon planned community southwest of Willow Springs in 18 months to two years, according to the project's Santa Monica developer.

Dan Palmer, preisdent of Palmer Investments, said Monday the Copa de Oro development is applying for permits to expand from a 933-home plan to 1200 homes situated around an 18-hole golf course.The amount of land involved has increased from 300 to 600 acres between 110th and 120th Streets West and the Gaskell Road alignment from 90th to 170th Streets West southwest of Rosamond, according to Kern County planning documents. The area, north of Avenuw A, is primarily dedicated to agriculture.

If plans are approved, the master-planned community will include a mix of housing styles on Lots as small as 3,000-square-feet ranging up to 6,000 square feet, according to the documents. Styles will include single family homes," "patio" homes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, townhouses and an apartment complex exclusively for senior citizens. Patio homes are privately owned single-family homes in a condominium type of environment where the grounds are maintained by an association, Palmer said. A 3-acre commercial center is included in the project plan.

The sizes and costs of the homes have not been determined yet, he said, but Copa de I Oro is targeting a range of households including new families through "empty nesters."

"It will be a planned community with many different levels of affordability and design," Palmer said, The community's emphasis won't be on "private yards," he said, although some private streets are included in the plan. The golf course with club house and driving range will be a focal area for residents' outside activities.

"Golf is the No. 1 most attractive amenity in the High Desert," according to the developer's demographic study, Palmer said. Studies also show that about two-thirds of those who move to a community and start commuting to work elsewhere generally find a local job within five years.

"There's no question that over time we're going to see a tremendous change" in the region's demographics, he said.

The project was originally approved in 2000 and the Copa de Oro Land Company in Beverly Hills and Kenross Estates by LCI Inc, have applied to Kern County supervisors to lock in the fees for the next 10 years, said Lorelei Oviatt, senior planner for the planning department. Supervisors will decide June 3 if they will accept the $1,500-per-unit development fee, The $1.8 million, paid to the county as homes are built, would help pay for the increased need for fire, police and library services as homebuyers move in.

The next step to implement the project will be to comply with the conditions of a sewage treatment plant, set up a water company, create an infrastructure plan and get approval for grading, Oviatt said. Because the acreage doubled, the additional land still needs an environmental study, she said.

The developer will establish the golf course, install the infrastructure and have the first model homes built, Individual builders will be responsible for the rest of the construction, Palmer said.