San Bernardino County Marijuana Cultivation Areas and Land Sales

Recently the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) and deputies from the Victorville Police Department served a search warrant at a residence in Victorville after learning about illegal narcotic activity occurring. The Investigators found over 1,400 marijuana plants within an indoor residential operation. The seizure included over 30 pounds of processed marijuana. It was an elaborate operation which included advanced lighting, air conditioning, fans, exhaust blowers and an air-filtering system to control the climate and odor of marijuana inside the home. The operation has likely been operating for several months. California’s marijuana law MAUCRSA, came into effect January 1st. The City of Victorville has an ordinance prohibiting Commercial Cannabis Activity which includes growing more than six marijuana plants at a residence. Generally, large marijuana grow operations require local and state licensing and are not permitted in a residential zone. The Sheriff department indicated that no licenses had been issued to the tenants or property owners. The suspect(s) will face criminal charges for the illegal Cultivation of Cannabis; over 6 plants, Sales/Transportation of Cannabis and Vandalism to Property. The cultivation zone in San Bernardino County is wide ranging and includes much or the city of Adelanto. Most of this area has been unused land, but the new marijuana laws spurned growth and many land owners who had held onto their land for some time has sold at escalating prices. Overall the cultivation market appears to have topped out as the expectations of sellers do not match with the availability of capital for the market. There appears to be interest in land purchases, but at the lower price ranges.

Brightline Buys XpressWest High Speed Rail which will connect Victorville to Las Vegas

Brightline is the nation’s largest and only privately owned operated express intercity passenger rail system. Brightline funded the Florida rail corridor previously. The Florida rail is a proven privately funded model for the Las Vegas Express. Brightline will now take over the construction, land acquisition. The initial phase is expected to build the right of way along Hwy 15 without pedestrian crossings. They expect construction to begin in 2019 with completion by 2022. The planned Las Vegas station is expected to run right to the resort corridor with access to limo’s, shuttles, taxi’s and rider sharing firms. The Victorville connection is 30 to 45 minutes from Los Angeles. They plan on additional stations and connectivity to the Metrolink which connects in Palmdale. They hope to also connect to the Cal High Speed rail likely at that junction also. Brightline’s ambitious plan is to complete the 190 miles from Victorville to Las Vegas in just three years. If they pull off their plan all privately funded then it will show Cal-High-Speed Rail authority’s costs and construction is way too expensive and slow. Overall it is good news for the high desert and Los Angeles.

A Bullet Train Path has been Picked From Palmdale to Burbank

The LA Times recently reported. The California High Speed Rail will cut through Sun Valley, San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Agua Dulce, the state rail authority proposed yesterday. The 40 mile route mostly follows Hwy 14 via tunnels. It is supposed to be the least expensive route to Burbank. It looks that the route could affect homes, businesses, an airport and a hospital. A big factor and problem is the passage under the San Gabriel and Tehachapi Mountains. That cost is estimated to be $26 to $45 billion just for that? That will include a 7 mile tunnel, but if you going six hundred miles per hour you’ll hardly notice it. According to the LA Times, The Santa Clarita City Council had told the rail authority it would oppose any route that was not fully underground. “Anything above ground takes out homes, schools and churches,” she said. “That is not going to happen.” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti supports the rail project. The mayors office prefers using the current Metrolink commuter rail right of way from Burbank to Palmdale which was built in 1870. The Bay Area plan is to use the right of way along the CalTrain from Gilroy to San Francisco, but the State said no. A draft environmental report is due in 2019 with a final in 2020. The rail authority’s plan says the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system would be completed by 2033, but there are no funds to build the LA portion. The projected costs hit $77 billion this year, more than double the original estimate, and its completion date is now more than a decade delayed.

LA Counties Water Problem Maybe Under The Desert

They say you can’t get water from a stone, but one man says he can solve California’s water crisis with water from the desert. Scott Slater or of Cadiz Inc owns 45,000 acres of the Mojave Desert The company says there is an enormous amount of water a few hundred feet below. The firm is proposing taking hundreds of trillions of gallons of desert ground water a year and piping it over a hundred miles to the populated land in LA suburbs. A big factor in the project is to pipe along a railroad line. The Obama Administration denied access to the federal land right of way. The Trump administration reversed that decision and has approved it. Environmentalists are not happy even though it can solve LA Basin’s water issues. These environmentalists believe it will raise the price of water and disturb the ecosystem. Cadiz Inc says they have judicial decisions that back their claim that the environment will not be harmed. California bill that SB 20 could have stopped the company’s plans to pump water out of the Mojave, died in the California Senate.

Marijuana and LA County Rules.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in 2017 to ban all commercial cannabis activities both medical and non-medical in unincorporated areas, including Quartz Hill, Littlerock and Lake Los Angeles. This move extends the 2010 ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas and broadens the prohibition to include the cultivation, manufacture, testing and distribution of the drug for other than personal use. It will limit residents to growing six plants, with most single-family homeowners allowed to plant inside or outdoors, while apartment dwellers are restricted for indoor cultivation only. The amendment requires single family lots to install setbacks and fencing. Under the ordinance, plants may not be visible from public right of way, or above a fence. County workers raised concerns about enforcing laws on cultivation and worries that they might encounter growers willing to use weapons to defend their crops, according to Hahn. State permits for cannabis businesses were available as of January 2018.

Valley Fever Diseased Dust in Antelope Valley

Flying dust is not only an issue for renewable energy projects, but also tract home developers, agriculture and even archaeological digs must contend with airborne particulates, often on a daily basis. Add to that the high winds that blow all over the valley and you have an uncontainable problem. Lurking within Antelope Valley’s sandy soils is a mysterious and debilitating disease mostly known as valley fever but scientifically called Coccidioidomycosis, or “cocci” for short. It’s a fungal disease endemic to Antelope Valley, but also San Fernando and West Valley’s. Various locations in and around Antelope Valley have tested positive near housing developments. Cycles of rain and drought are known to exacerbate fungal growth and correlate to the rise of valley fever cases occurring within the state. Symptoms of Valley Fever are fever, coughing, chills, night sweats, chest pains, headaches, and spotty rashes. If one has a weakened immune system then more difficult cases can break out. Some ways to avoid valley fever are: Stay inside during dust storms and close your windows. Avoid activities that involve close contact to dirt or dust, including yard work, gardening, and digging. Clean skin injuries well with soap and water to reduce the chances of developing a skin infection, especially if the wound was exposed to dirt or dust.

The Desert Landscape of Antelope Valley has Grown Enormously Since 1980

The population and landscape of the Antelope Valley has undergone a substantial transformation the last 40 years. In the 1980s, the area began shifting from a sparsely populated, mostly white, high desert life to a bedroom community. Prices in lower LA County have priced out lower income families who then sought better housing costs in Lancaster and Palmdale. About 75000 AV residents commute daily into the greater Los Angeles area for work via car and rail. As of 2012 the population of AV is 507k with 153k in Palmdale and 157k in Lancaster with the remainder in the surrounding smaller cities. 48% of the population is non-Hispanic white, the second largest group is Hispanic, then African American and Asian. With the gradual growth has come a water issue. The aqueduct has brought in water since 1970 but as of 1964 Agriculture has taken most of the water, and in the AV farming land takes up more water per acre than anywhere else in the state. Currently, 35,000 acres of desert land, originally cultivated within Antelope Valley, lie fallow while about 10,000 acres are still actively farmed. AV got its greatest growth in the 80’s growing from 60 thousand to 222k by mid 1990. And 485k by 2010. That is 8 times in thirty years. Today with the growth of the Aerospace industry, solar farms, regional hospitals, the housing market has grown. These jobs are professional jobs with higher incomes allowing for much nicer homes, and many parts of the valley are now filling this need. If the valley continues to grow then more housing will certainly be needed.