COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF TEJON RANCH AND KERN COUNTY REGARDING

RE-APPROVAL OF GRAPEVINE AT TEJON RANCH MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITY

TEJON RANCH, Calif.—(January 22, 2021)—Kern County Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. Twisselman today rejected, in its entirety, the most recent lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a Tucson, Arizona-based extremist environmental organization, that challenged Kern County’s December 2019 re-approval of Grapevine at Tejon Ranch, a master planned mixed use residential community.

In December 2016, the Kern County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Grapevine. CBD sued the following year, and subsequently 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 the traffic study—and ordered the County to submit a revised environmental impact report reflecting the court-ordered additional work – but upheld the remainder of the environmental impact report.

The supplemental re-circulated environmental impact report showing the changes to the internal capture rate analysis was subject to a full public review and comment process 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.

In today’s ruling, the court rejected CBD’s attempt to re-litigate issues it had already sued on and lost. It also determined that the County’s supplemental analysis of the internal capture rate, as ordered by the court, was complete and in full compliance with the court’s earlier ruling. The court also expressly rejected each of CBD’s new claims, including those that attempted to re-litigate earlier claims that CBD had itself assured the court in writing that CBD would not-re-litigate.

“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 VP of real estate at Tejon Ranch Co. “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.”

The lawsuit was the 12th legal action filed by CBD against Tejon Ranch and its interests since 2003. CBD’s concerted efforts to likewise delay Tejon Ranch’s Centennial and Mountain Village master-planned communities, which together with Grapevine will provide 35,000 new homes for Californians, only serve to worsen California’s housing shortage and drive home costs ever higher. The lawsuit comes a month after CBD lost yet another lawsuit challenging Tejon Mountain Village.

It’s no secret that Bakersfield and Kern County have some of the hardest working people in the nation. It’s a place where hard work, sheer grit, and determination have been harnessed to feed and fuel a nation. From our award-winning, nationally recognized schools and universities, our deep commitment to agriculture, and a culture that goes back decades (we even invented our own sound), Kern County is No. 1 in oil production and agriculture in the nation. We’re attracting more Millennials to the workforce than ever before. We’re ready to take on new challenges.

Tejon Ranch is proud to be a part of this success. From our job-creating initiatives with Kern County to our increased capacity at Tejon Ranch Commerce Center to attract new business and increase our competitiveness, to building a community and new communities and housing we’re helping add our knowledge and our legacy.

We look forward to continuing to help build a better future for Kern County, Bakersfield—and for all of California.

TEJON RANCH CO. APPLAUDS ROBUST NEW KERN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVE POLICY

Newly approved policy will assist, grow, and diversify the county’s economic base, encourage employment opportunities, and create jobs for local residents

 

TEJON RANCH, CA – (November 8, 2017) – Tejon Ranch Co. (NYSE: TRC) today lauded the Kern County Board of Supervisors for yesterday’s approval of a new Kern County Economic Development Incentive Policy as part of AdvanceKern, a partnership with the Kern Economic Development Corporation.  The new policy gives the county flexibility to craft significant incentive packages to attract quality new businesses to the county.

 

“We are thrilled that the Board of Supervisors approved the policy and look forward—along with the rest of the county–to the new business opportunities it will provide,” said Barry Zoeller, Tejon Ranch Co.’s vice president of corporate communications and investor relations. “The new economic incentives outlined in the revised policy will have a transformative effect on the region and provide us with the same opportunity as other cities such as Fresno and Los Angeles to draw large-scale employers to Kern County and Tejon Ranch and ultimately create more jobs for Kern County residents.”

The Tejon Ranch Commerce Center (TRCC), a 1,450-acre active master-planned development that includes industrial, retail, food, fuel, and hospitality amenities, contains some of the largest parcels of entitled land in unincorporated Kern County and provides an ideal location for companies seeking to make use of the new incentives.

More than 15 million square feet of space is currently available at TRCC for companies seeking distribution, light manufacturing, and e-commerce fulfillment space, with additional room for destination retail to complement the existing award-winning Outlets at Tejon. Existing industrial tenants at TRCC include IKEA, Dollar General, Caterpillar, and Famous Footwear.  Businesses at TRCC employ upwards of 4,000 people depending on the season.

A new Class A cross-dock industrial building was recently completed at TRCC.  This new spec building, encompassing more than 480,000 square feet of space, provides near immediate access to Interstate 5, California’s principal north/south highway, and could serve nearly 90 percent of California consumers within a single-day truck turn and more than 40 million people for next day delivery service.

Targeted industry cluster groups outlined in the policy include value-added agriculture, energy and chemicals, transportation, logistics, warehousing, manufacturing, e-commerce, destination retail, business and professional services, tourism (including hospitality-oriented services), recreation and entertainment, health services and medical technologies, and aerospace and defense.

“These clusters represent outstanding opportunities for Kern County, and for Tejon Ranch, as many fall in our core offerings,” added Zoeller. “This new policy provides us a competitive advantage in attracting business to Tejon Ranch and creating jobs for county residents.”

 

About Tejon Ranch
Tejon Ranch Co. (NYSE: TRC), is a diversified real estate development and agribusiness company, whose principal asset is its 270,000-acre land holding located approximately 60 miles north of Los Angeles and 30 miles south of Bakersfield. More information about Tejon Ranch Co. can be found online at http://www.tejonranch.com.

 

About Tejon Ranch Commerce Center

The Tejon Ranch Commerce Center is located at the junction of Interstate 5 and Highway 99, at

the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, approximately 70 minutes north of Los Angeles.

The 1,450-acre industrial/commercial complex is already home to major distribution centers for

Caterpillar, Dollar General, Famous Footwear, and IKEA.

 

 

 

 

###