An Important Next Step to Stop Centennial

For some time, we’ve been saying that the fight to stop the Centennial development is far from over. Today, CNPS and partner the Center for Biological Diversity (the Center) have taken the next step in halting the ill-advised Tejon Ranch proposal with an important comment letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Two things are important to know:

1. On Dec. 11, 2018, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on their intent to approve the Centennial Development pending requested changes like percentage of affordable housing. However, that approval is not final until a final vote expected this spring.
2. Just a week after its December Centennial decision, the Board adopted a Wildfire Analysis Motion on Dec. 18, which acknowledges California’s “new normal” and calls for the County to “review existing prevention regulations and emergency notification systems, and look to lessons learned and what we can do better moving forward.”

So what gives?

“Supervisors can’t OK the county’s biggest-ever development in a wildfire area and then quietly admit that such projects endanger residents and firefighters,” say J.P. Rose, a Center staff attorney in today’s joint news release from the Center and CNPS. “California law requires the county to use current info to conduct a clear-eyed assessment of the risks of such development, not roll out the red carpet for Tejon Ranch Company and its Wall Street investors.”

Today’s comment letter asserts the Wildfire Analysis Motion is fully relevant to the pending decision on Centennial. The California Environmental Quality Act requires a thorough review and analysis of any “new information” relevant to proposed development projects. The availability of new information also calls for another round of public comments. In the letter, we argue that the final vote should be delayed until the study mandated by the Wildlife Analysis Motion is completed and its findings are incorporated into Centennial Specific Plan’s Environmental Impact Report.

Together, as organizations and citizens, we will continue working to ensure that Los Angeles County is making decisions that are consistent with its own policies and with public safety as their top priority.

Your voice counts.

We encourage you to contact the Supervisors and ask that they delay a final vote on Centennial until the Wildfire Analysis Motion’s study is complete, and the EIR updated.

Nick Jensen is a conservation analyst for the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) in Southern California and a fellow of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation. Jensen recently earned his PhD in botany at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG)/Claremont Graduate University. As a graduate student he produced the first Flora of Tejon Ranch (* in preparation) and studied evolutionary patterns in perennial jewelflowers.  For more information please contact him at Nick Jensen at njensen@cnps.org.

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