650 More Jobs Promised in West Antelope Valley

Election Set Amid Growing Controversy Over Boundaries

Reported by Gary Meyer with Patric Hedlund

See Oso Town Council Meeting Minutes, Below

Strategies regarding cityhood, energy co-ops, elections, alleged harassment by Los Angeles County planning and zoning “NATzis” (nuisance abatement teams) and 650 new jobs offered by an energy developer were on the agenda when about 100 people gathered in the Neenach area Thursday, Sept. 8 to discuss the future of the West Antelope Valley.

Residents represented since 1992 by the Oso Rural Town Council met in the West Valley County Water District Clubhouse amid a background of quibbling in the northwestern sector of Supervisor Michael Antonovich’s district among rural town councils over territory and boundaries. Field Deputy Norm Hickling has suggested a meeting to again address the conflicts.

Former California Assemblyman Richard Alatorre attended the Thursday meeting and has been recruited by Oso’s interim president Richard Skaggs to lend coaching support to the council for navigating political waters.

Alatorre said during the meeting that there are “big changes in the area” with significant quality of life issues at stake.

“I’ve spoken with a lot of the residents about the NAT teams and what’s been going on in the area,” he said, adding that he’ll be looking into those issues and he is “looking forward to working with [Oso Town Council].”

More Jobs

Thomas Eisenhauer of Los Angeles based Renewable Resources Group presented his plans for a solar energy farm that is twice the size of the one proposed by First Solar Inc, which held numerous job fairs in the area this summer (although it appears First Solar has hired very few workers yet).

Eisenhauer projects that 650 new jobs will be created by his company and sustained over a three-year period, estimated to begin in January of 2013. Hiring will begin in the fall of 2012, said Gerry Loughman of Sunpower Corporation (the firm that will manage construction of the project).

The site covers 4,700 acres. It will include over two million solar panels and will generate 650 megawatts of power, supplying electric power to 230,000 homes, Loughman told The Mountain Enterprise. The project straddles two counties. Renewable Resources Group obtained its approvals for zoning changes and conditional use permits (CUPs) for the project from the Kern County Board of Supervisors on August 2.

The project will go before the Los Angeles County Planning Commission on September 21 to seek CUPs for the portion of the solar farm to be located south of Avenue A in L.A. County.

Elections

Oso board members called upon residents to become candidates in the upcoming town council elections.

A total of seven members will be elected, with two-year terms for president and vicepresident, one-year terms for secretary and treasurer and one-year terms for three members at large.

The deadline for acceptance of letters of intent to run for the council is September 17. According to Richard Skaggs, any residents living within the boundaries of 100th Street West, 300th Street West on both sides of Highway 138 including Three Points, are encouraged to send a letter of intent to run as a candidate to Linda Stamback, Election Committee Chair (at 28241 Lancaster Rd., Neenach, CA 93536).

Candidates will be announced on September 18. The election will be held on September 22, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Fairmont Market, located at 22847 W. Ave. D (which is Highway 138).

The top seven candidates with the highest number of votes will be elected and will appoint officers for the board.


Oso Town Council Minutes
osotc.com
September 08, 2011
6:10 PM Call to Order
Pledge of Allegiance

Gerry Conroy
opened the meeting with thanks to Renewable Resources Group for renting the Water District Clubhouse for us and to Richard Alatorre for joining us.

Tonight’s guest Richard Alatorre, former California Assembyman and Los Angeles City Councilman introduced himself and explained how important changes were happening in the West Antelope Valley and how these changes will be affecting our quality of life. He said he looks forward to working with us to sort out the N.A.T. problem, particularly as they affect our Latino community, and in our quest for cityhood if we choose to pursue that.

Jack T. explained the importance of having our own zip code for our area. Internet search engines use zip codes to help pinpoint an address and Neenach’s zip code 93536 points to Lancaster about 40 minutes away by car. Not only does this hamper parcel delivery by FedEx and UPS, but as Richard Alatorre pointed out there are safety issues involved as the sheriff and fire departments use zip codes to find a location.

Jack recommended that we apply for 93538 as the proposed city of Centenial is applying for 93537.
Letters requesting the zip code change to be sent to the Postal Service District Manager Kerry Wolny were available from Jack during the meeting or will be downloadable from Oso TC’s website.
Linda Stamback, chairwoman of the Oso TC Election Committee explained the procedures leading up to the upcoming Oso TC Election on September 22nd.

The Oso TC Election Committee met last on Monday September 5th with Tom and Anna Walentitsch, Laura Conroy, Seigfried Carlle, and Gil Cueva, who came to the following decision:
The Oso TC President and Vice President will each serve for two years, the Secretary and Treasurer will each serve for one year, and three Members at Large will each serve for one year.
Applications to run for office were available at the meeting or will be downloadable on the Oso Town Council website in the
“Download” section. In order to run you must be a resident, voter, or land owner in the area. The “area” is defined as 100th Street West on The East to Quail Lake Road on the West, Avenue A (Kern County Line) on the North to Avenue J on the South.

All applications will be locked into a lockbox by Saturday September 17th.
Flyers will be sent out and a posting will be made on the Oso TC website with voting info (candidate names and polling location).

One person, one vote. Most number of votes wins presidency, second most Vice Presidency, third Secretary, fourth Treasurer, and the next three the Members at Large. (Correction – the “Board” will be elected by popular vote, and the board shall elect the individual offices.)

Curtis (Curly) Moran of King’s Canyon stated that King’s Canyon wanted to opt out of Oso Town Council. The Oso Town Council map shown on osotc.com inadvertently included that area and will be corrected.

Jackie Perkins voiced an objection to the Oso Town Council receiving and distributing Energy Company mitigation funds through the Rural Antelope Valley Conservancy (RAVC), which is controlled by the Fairmont Town Council.

Wendy Reed, the Director of the Antelope Valley Conservancy (AVC) explained that there was some confusion between the AVC (www.avconservancy.org/), locally headquartered in Quartz Hill and in existence since September 2005, and the more recently formed and unfortunately similarly named RAVC (no website found). Oso TC and AVC began talking together about three months ago but no mutual agreement has been reached yet. That needs to be decided by the whole town council. The AVC is a non-profit which exists to help communities best use mitigation lands.

Tom Eisenhauer of Renewable Resources Group described their proposed project.
Antelope Valley Solar will straddle the Los Angeles/Kern County Line around 170th Street West. The project will occupy about 4,000 acres – 75% in Kern County and 25% in Los Angeles County, adjascent to the Whirlwind Substation at Holiday Avenue. The project is located on private property which has been previously disturbed by farming.
Scheduled to begin construction sometime in 2013 with construction lasting about 36 months, RRG expects to hire about 650 people for construction jobs.

Herman Trabish of GreenTech Media noted that about a dozen meteorological towers amongst the wind turbines near Tehachapi were vandalized between last November and June. Herman would like to talk with the anonymous vandals in order to report their story.

Karl Humphreys reported that First Solar will be hiring about 16 construction workers during September in order to train them to train more recent hires on the art of pile-driving. Interviews should begin next week (12th to 16th) with hiring to begin in the week following.

Richard Skaggs moderated a discussion of Nuisance Abatement Team (N.A.T.) activities. One gentleman (name requested) related how he actually reported himself to the N.A.T., so that his neighbors wouldn’t do so in retaliation. Several other audience members had their own stories about N.A.T. abuse. About ten audience members raised their hands when asked who were victims of N.A.T. harassment. Richard S told his story about the various petty code violations he faced from the N.A.T. and how his attempts to correct them were thwarted by L.A. County officials.
Steve Wendt, Dennis Penna, Gus B and his brother, and several others each had their own N.A.T. horror stories to relate.

8:10 PM Meeting Adjourned.

This is part of the September 16, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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