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Photo courtesy of Tejon Ranch.

Tejon Ranch Sees Legal Victory In Habitat Conservation Challenge

A federal court has ruled in favor of the re-approval of Grapevine at Tejon Ranch, a master planned, mixed-use residential community in development.

Kern County Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. Twisselman ruled in favor of Tejon Ranch and Kern County over an ongoing habitat conservation challenge by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), an Arizona-based environmental organization, regarding the California Condor. The recent ruling allows the company to move forward with developments for Grapevine.

“We are extremely pleased the court thoughtfully and thoroughly considered the issues, found that we had satisfied the court’s original ruling and decided to rule against the claims in this latest lawsuit,” said Hugh F. McMahon, Executive Vice President of real estate at Tejon Ranch Co., in a statement Friday. “Once again CBD tried to hijack and abuse the California Environmental Quality Act in their continued attempts to prevent any and all thoughtful and responsible real estate development in California.”

Twisselman rejected the most recent lawsuit filed by CBD, which challenged Kern County’s Dec. 2019 re-approval of Grapevine at Tejon Ranch. The court rejected CBD’s attempt to re-litigate issues it had already sued on and lost. It also determined that the County’s analysis of the internal capture rate for the California Condor, as ordered by the court, was complete and in full compliance with the court’s previous ruling.  

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The lawsuit was the 12th legal action filed by CBD against Tejon Ranch and its interests since 2003. The plaintiffs had previously filed an environmental lawsuit against Kern County in 2009 for its approval of the Tejon Mountain Village project and lost in both the superior and appellate state courts. CBD has also sued to obstruct and delay other Tejon Ranch developments including the expansion of the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center, where both courts ultimately rejected CBD’s claims, according to the company.

In Dec. 2016, the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved the development of Grapevine. CBD sued the following year, and lost six of the seven issues it raised regarding the sufficiency of the project’s environmental impact report. On the seventh issue, the court ruled that there was a deficiency regarding the internal capture rate used in their impact report and ordered a revised version. 

The updated environmental impact report was subject to a full public review and was ultimately re-approved unanimously by the Kern County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors in 2019. The County’s approval was challenged yet again by CBD, first in a late-hit letter filed one day before the Board of Supervisors met to consider the project, and then again in court.

Tejon Ranch Co. officials say that they remain “fully committed to the ongoing stewardship of the ranch’s 270,000 acres, as it has done for over 175 years.”


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Tejon Ranch Sees Legal Victory In Habitat Conservation Challenge

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About Connor Grose

Connor Grose was born and raised in Santa Clarita. After graduating from Golden Valley High School in 2013, he went on to pursue writing & film at California State Northridge. Connor joined KHTS in 2020 as a video & marketing intern and has since joined their News Team. When he is not working, Connor enjoys playing guitar and making short films.