Fearing that construction of a new city on Tejon Ranch would end low-level training flights from six military bases, a top Defense Department official has taken the unusual step of asking Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger to intervene in the development of the proposed 23,000-home community, and perhaps move it from the Tehachapi Mountains to the southern San Joaquin Valley.
Navy Rear Adm. J.L. Betancourt, writing on behalf of military services in California, said that development of the new city of Centennial, near Gorman, would interfere with the training of Navy, Marine and Air Force combat pilots and would likely have "severe impacts" on the nation's military readiness.
Federal regulations prohibit military flights lower than 1,000 feet over cities, while military pilots often train at elevations of just 200 feet.
"The proposed Centennial development underlies a number of military training routes crucial to maintaining highly perishable pilot skills necessary for safe execution of one of the most demanding phases of a combat mission," Betancourt said Tuesday in an e-mail to Schwarzenegger.
Betancourt requested that Schwarzenegger's statewide planning office devise a regional strategy to consider Centennial and two other projects planned on sprawling Tejon Ranch along Interstate 5 in Kern and Los Angeles counties. A new law gives that office expanded powers in resolving development disputes related to the military.
Just what Schwarzenegger will do with the request is uncertain, since he is not yet governor and is only now selecting his top advisors. Until he is sworn in, Environment Now, a Santa Monica nonprofit group, is advising the governor-elect on issues concerning Tejon Ranch.
"The transition team does have the admiral's letter, and they've briefed Arnold," said David Myerson of Environment Now. "But he has no response at this point."
The Centennial project is now before Los Angeles County planners, and preliminary community meetings on its environmental effects are set for November.
Military and urban uses are not mutually exclusive at Tejon Ranch, according to an analysis that was prepared by the military and attached to Betancourt's letter.
One option, the analysis said, would be to move Centennial -- planned for perhaps 70,000 residents and 13 million square feet of commercial space -- from the western tip of the Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County to another part of the ranch 20 miles north in Kern County.
