Tejon Industrial Project Cleared

By James Burger, The Bakersfield Californian

Apr. 11–Tejon Industrial Corporation will break ground within a month on a 1,109-acre retail and industrial complex just north of the Grapevine on the east side of Interstate 5 after a court victory Friday.

The project is the second half of a massive commercial and industrial center at Laval Road and Interstate 5. The western 350 acres of the combined 1,459-acre project has already been built and includes gas stations, restaurants such as McDonalds and Starbucks and major warehouses for corporations including the IKEA furniture company.

Kern County approved the eastern side of the project in 2003, but a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity has cast a cloud over that approval for more than three years.

Kern County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Twisselman originally ruled that the county failed to adequately evaluate the impacts of the project on air quality — and on the protected coast horned lizard and Swainson’s hawk species.

But a ruling issued Friday by the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno favors Tejon Industrial over the environmental groups challenging the project.

And Tejon officials say they’re ready to move.

“We are pleased to have this issue behind us so we can move ahead with our vision for Tejon Industrial Complex,” said Robert A. Stine, president and CEO of Tejon Ranch Company in a prepared news release. “Tejon Industrial Complex is an important part of our vision to provide for California’s future by creating jobs and economic opportunity for thousands.”

Tejon Ranch spokesman Barry Zoeller said work on the 1,109-acre eastern half of the project has been moving forward for the past year, since 2006 when Twisselman ruled that a follow-up environmental study of the project had handled his original concerns about the air pollution and species impacts.

Friday’s ruling simply dismisses the cloud that the lawsuit had cast over the project, Zoeller said.

“You’ll see dirt move within the month,” he said.

According to court documents, this new section of the Tejon project will include 13.6 million square feet of warehouse space, 1.5 million square feet of industrial and manufacturing area and 275,000 square feet of commercial uses.

There will be two gas stations, two diesel fuel stations and nine restaurants.

And the complex will be served by a 3.5-megawatt gas-powered electrical plant and a water treatment facility.

There is a possibility that the 5th District’s ruling could be appealed to the California Supreme Court.

But Kern County attorney Bruce Divelbiss said it isn’t likely the state court will take the case.

“If there’s no appeal that means the case is over,” Divelbiss said.

But Zoeller said Tejon Ranch and Tejon Industrial are committed to moving forward.

Calls to the Center for Biological Diversity offices in Los Angeles and the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment in Delano were not returned Monday afternoon.

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