As we wrap up the holiday season and enter into a new year, we’d like to take some time to reflect on 2019. After various meetings and conversations with the Antelope Valley unincorporated communities, we had some staff changes that impacted our project’s schedule early last year. Richard Marshalian was pulled away on a special assignment to support in the Woolsey Fire Recovery and returned to our team in March of 2019. We also said farewell to David McDonald in the same month and then welcomed Kristina Kulczycki and Tahirah Farris to the team from the department’s Current Planning Division. They brought their experience processing site plans and discretionary permits to help identify the most feasible and appropriate ways to address the AV communities’ priority topics for new and updated CSDs.

Last summer, we also said farewell to Susie Tae as she was promoted to Assistant Administrator in Regional Planning’s Current Planning Division. Susie continues to cheer us on in her new role and helped us welcome Mark Herwick in her place, bringing his 18 years of experience within the department to lead the AV CSDs team.

As we pushed through staff changes, we also pushed to keep the CSDs moving. We released Community Concept Drafts for the following communities: Acton, Green Valley, Lake Los Angeles, Littlerock, Leona Valley, Pearblossom, Roosevelt, and Sun Village. The Concept Drafts were developed based on conversations with community residents and Town Council representatives from each community. The documents summarized the groups’ priority topics and were released publicly to get feedback from the communities at large to inform the appropriate direction for each community.

Our outreach last summer and fall included placing posters at various community locations including markets, community buildings, County libraries, and even the Lancaster Sheriff’s station as well as hosting a targeted Open House to meet with residents face to face, answer any questions, and receive feedback on various Community Concept Drafts.

In addition to the public outreach conducted, we consulted with multiple County departments including Fire, Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Public Health, Animal Care and Control, Public Works, and the County CEO’s office to determine how we could best address each community’s priority topics, whether through the CSD or a separate County effort. After our consultation and consideration of all public comments received, we began to meet with the initial community groups to share what we heard and what our plans are for drafting their CSD language. For those communities that we have not yet presented back to, we will be reaching out to meet with them in the coming weeks.

Our third group of CSDs which includes the communities of Antelope Acres, Fairmont, Neenach, The Lakes, and Three Points will have Concept Drafts released to the public in the coming weeks as well, and we will continue consulting with all the County departments.

2019 saw its share of challenges, but also welcomed positive changes. We could not have kept everything moving without you. The residents of the Antelope Valley communities have shown their passion and dedication time and time again. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to move forward and support you all in achieving the goals of the Antelope Valley Area Plan.

We hope you enjoyed the holiday season, well-deserved quality time with your family and loved ones, and look forward to keeping up the pace in 2020! Happy New Year to all!

Sincerely,

Your AV CSDs Team: Mark, Kristina, Richard, and Tahirah