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Planning Commission hears concerns about The Canyons project

BY JENNY SHEARER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jshearer@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Feb 7 2008 9:50 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Feb 8 2008 9:50 AM

Two people raised concerns about The Canyons project during Thursday's Bakersfield Planning Commission meeting.

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Photos:

Photo by Alex Horvath

Supervisor Mike Maggard, a city councilman in this file photo, surveys an area owned General Holding in an area of the bluffs called Hogs Back Ridge.

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They responded to a draft environmental impact report for the large development, a mixed-use project in northeast Bakersfield. The commission received testimony on the project, but took no action.

Bob Lerude, director of Kern County Parks and Recreation, expressed concerns about traffic on Alfred Harrell Highway, which leads to the county's soccer park and popular recreation spots such as Lake Ming and Hart Park.

The Canyons project proposes building 1,334 homes on the bluffs. Commercial, park and open-space elements are featured.

Craig Smith of the Bakersfield Bluffs and Trails Committee, said the draft report didn't address or clarify the status of The Canyons with regard to the city's hillside ordinance. The ordinance regulates development in the northeast, home to scenic hills and bluffs. But its status is in flux.

In December, a judge agreed with developer General Holding that the city should have done an environmental impact report before it adopted the ordinance. The judge is expected to rule this month whether the adopted ordinance should be in effect while the city does more research.

Smith asked if a new environmental report would be circulated for public review.

“The revised hillside ordinance affects a number of studies that were done,” he said.

Commissioner Russell Johnson asked if an April 2006 traffic study was still current, given new development in the area.

No one spoke about the adequacy of a draft environmental report for a proposed shopping center at the southwest corner of Ashe Road and Panama Lane. Johnson asked how the project's timing matched with a planned expansion to the city's southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant No. 3.

Comments about both projects will be addressed in final reports that may be ready in March.

Written comments will be accepted until Feb. 25 for the shopping center and Feb. 29 for The Canyons.

To read the draft environmental impact reports for The Canyons and the southwest shopping center, go to: www.bakersfieldcity.us/weblink7/Browse.aspx?startid=602140.

Click the “Draft Environmental Impact Reports” folder and then click the appropriate folder.

Written comments may be mailed to Development Services Department, Planning Division, 1715 Chester Ave., Bakersfield, 93301, or e-mailed to DevPln@bakersfieldcity.us.