SPARSELY POPULATED MOUNTAIN AREA MAY BE CITY BY 2030 70,000 WOULD RESIDE IN NEW HOMES AT PROPOSED TEJON RANCH PROJECT.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

TEJON RANCH - Eddie Harris has lived halfway between Gorman and Lancaster, on the border of Tejon Ranch property, for about 20 years; he moved there to get away from what he calls ``animals that walk on two legs.''

That's why Harris was particularly displeased last year when he heard that developers are planning the largest subdivision in Los Angeles County history - with 70,000 new residents - next door to his 13 acres.

``They'll bring their SUVs, their campers, their motorcycles,'' Harris said. ``They'll bring all of their bad elements out here, and then if you complain about it, they'll ask you to leave.''

The Centennial development proposal, which has been informally submitted to county officials but not in detail, would bring 23,000 new homes to what are now vast grassy plains at the vortex of gradual, golden foothills in the western corner of the Antelope Valley, about 40 miles north of Santa Clarita.

The development would transform the area - with impacts ranging from adding as many as 15 new schools to significantly impairing star-gazing because of urban lights - and turn one of the county's last rural bastions into a city-size community.

If approved by county government, which developers hope will happen within two years, Centennial will have all the aspects of a city by the time it is complete, around 2030 - which is the same time line for the recently approved Newhall Ranch project just west of Santa Clarita.

Centennial's 23,000 homes, plus shopping centers, schools, businesses and a golf course, will be grouped into villages on about 6,000 acres, west of the Golden State Freeway and north of Highway 138.

Another 6,000 acres will be dedicated to open space, according to Barbara Casey, a spokeswoman for Centennial.

About 60 miles north of Los Angeles, the community's homes are expected to be more expensive than Lancaster real estate, but more affordable than Santa Clarita's, with house prices starting at the 2003 equivalent of the mid-$200,000s.

Harris's concerns over pollution, crowding and traffic are shared by others in what is now a sparsely populated community, but there is also a strand of excitement running through the western Antelope Valley.

The countryside residents - who travel at least 80 miles round-trip to Lancaster, Santa Clarita or Bakersfield for groceries, medical services and entertainment - are looking forward to services that have never been locally available.

Even Harris grudgingly admits that a medical center nearby will be important as he advances in age.

``Having those things closer will be good,'' Harris said.

Bill Barnes, who has lived in the area for almost 80 years - long enough to have a road named after him - thinks the Centennial development will be good for the community.

``People come out here, and then they don't want anyone else to come out,'' Barnes said.

Barnes - who is known by neighbors as ``Old Man Barnes'' and hosts election polls in his living room - owns about 200 acres adjacent to the proposed Centennial project, and he farms an additional 1,200 acres. His grandparents homesteaded on the land in 1887, and his family has lived there ever since.

``My wife says it might be better than going to Lancaster to shop, and the speculation might help me sell my land,'' Barnes said.

Officials for Centennial echo Barnes' sentiment.

``There is a lot of support for our project because we'll be bringing services that the mountain communities don't have right now - medical, shopping, goods and services,'' Casey said. ``We've met with hundreds of people who are enthusiastic about the project, but there are some concerns, which we are going to address.''

Among those concerns is the impact that 70,000 people - many of them children - will have on the Gorman Union School District, which now has a single schoolhouse.

``It is right in our district, and so conceivably ... it would cause us to grow to a size that this district has never known,'' said Gorman Superintendent Hugh Pickrel.

Pickrel says that as many as 15 new schools would be needed, depending on the number of children living in the development.

And he has ideas for new methods of instruction, such as integrating home-schooling and conventional teaching more effectively.

``This will be a pretty isolated community, and that makes it pretty ripe for some innovative educational approaches,'' Pickrel said.

The Gorman Union School District would be responsible for Centennial's elementary schools, and the Antelope Valley Union High School District would handle the high schools.

According to Greg Medeiros, vice president of the Centennial Founders, there would be eight schools for children in kindergarten through eighth grade and two high schools in the subdivision.

For many area residents, the impacts that Centennial might have are unimaginable and somewhat jarring.

Michelle Cabaniss, who has lived in Frazier Park since 1985, has mixed feelings about the proposal.

``As a homeowner, I have concerns both ways. I think it's good for employment, but it will ruin the country effect of the top of the mountain,'' Cabaniss said. ``It's kind of sad because it's the last and closest country place to Los Angeles.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in SAC edition only) Eddie Harris is upset about a proposal for a massive subdivision at Tejon Ranch, next to his land.

(2) Eddie Harris, looking over his 13 acres, knows the proposed Centennial project would drastically change his rural lifestyle.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer