Lorilei Oviatt of the Kern County Planning Department brought presentations of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for Falling Star Estates to the mountain in February and March. This changeling project is to be built in Lebec by Fallingstar Homes, on property owned by the Arciero family, with significant grading. The development of 750-820 homes and over 30 commercial acres surrounding Frazier Mountain High School, excited significant public interest and over two hundred letters of comment and inquiry to Oviatt, who decided the questions were of sufficient quantity and quality to merit withdrawal of the DEIR for additional research and a rewrite.

One of the most glaring omissions is a regional water study to confirm that the Cuddy Valley aquifer is capable of sustaining the current Mountain Communities population plus the potential 4000 additional souls that Fallingstar Homes would attract.

At left, a graph by Doug Peters showed the water table in the area dropped 60 feet in 11 years, with no development at all, triggering leadership by El Tejon Unified School District Board president Steve Newman, who proposed a three year water study prior to considering a permit to build.

This is part of the December 29, 2006 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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