Save Leona Valley Legal Fund (David vs Goliath)

WE CAN WIN THIS! All we need is money.....

Eight years after the catastrophic Copper Fire, the Crown Fire consumed most of the area of Ritter Ranch - shown in the picture above. Had the Ritter Ranch development of 7200 homes been in place as planned, the losses would have been even more catastrophic. California has enacted many new laws since the Copper Fire, including standards to protect the public in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones.

For the past 2 years, our area’s residents have been fighting a battle to protect the safety and welfare of our community against a recently approved application to build 7200 homes based on a 30+ year old outdated Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Our struggle has been a typical David and Goliath fight against the big money, big business, and political shenanigans that introduced this threat to our community.

We humbly ask for your support to continue our fight. We can win this! All we need is money to help us to fund further legal action. Please join with us to prove that even a small rural community can maintain a long and contentious fight against corporate and political interests that only care about their profits. We cannot allow our justice system to favor the highest bidder - at the risk of public safety.

The people are the underdog in this sad story but with your help, we can overcome even the greatest of odds. Much has changed in the 30 years since the original approvals were granted. To date, not one single house has been built. Once they start building then they have roughly another 20-years in which to finish this project. Because nothing has been built in those past 30-plus years, it means the plan will be more than 50-years old by the time they reach build-out! It’s time the people in control face the reality that a lot has changed in those past 30 years and that they need to update the plan and start over. All we want is for them to follow the same rules we have to follow if we were to build a house.

Save the hills for all to enjoy!

It is our distinct belief that these leaders should put the safety and well-being of the thousands of potential new residents front and center. Forcing an unsuspecting new homeowner to sign a waiver (forever attached to the deed) exonerating the city and developer from the numerous known existing hazards, including earthquakes, fire, water shortages and other hazards, is beyond shameful!

Please rest assured that this is far more than a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) campaign. If the City of Palmdale and Ritter Ranch had decided to build the development using the same standards that apply to all other new developments, we would be OK with that. We understand there is a housing shortage, but there is much more readily available flat land in the Antelope Valley where a development of this magnitude would be much more suitable for future residents - land with existing water, roads and other infrastructure close at hand. Land that has already been disturbed and would be much, much safer for the new residents choosing to live in the Antelope Valley.

This development represents a genuine threat to the public safety of our rural community as well. Not only will the Ritter Ranch Development alter the character of our community; but it will also endanger our families during future natural disasters due to a lack of evacuation options and shortages of emergency response aid.

If you live here, love someone who does, or is simply fed up with dirty deals that exploit small rural communities for large profits, please contribute to our cause.  We desperately need outside funding help to keep our battle going. We have a great lawyer, but we are up against two powerful groups of interconnected politicians and developers. We can win this! We just need enough money to keep going.

We want to continue to pursue our legal fight, we need to get beyond the influence of the city and developer and their time-wasting (expensive) legal tactics, and we need enough time to gain some ground in court. 

Our small community thanks you for taking the time to read about our plight. With your help, we won’t back down! 

We are confident that our efforts will be successful and that we will not only protect our interests but also empower other rural communities, like ours, to stand up for their rights as well! Please share this GoFundMe page with everyone you know.

Visit https://leonavalleytc.org/ to learn more.

Like us on Facebook to follow our fight.

Donations can also be sent via mail to:

Leona Valley Town Council

PO Box 795

Leona Valley, CA 93551

Tax Deductible Donations can be sent to us through our website mentioned above by using the Paypal button, no account is needed.

If you would like even more details, or to read our legal filing visit https://leonavalleytc.org/ritter-ranch (scroll all the way down for documents).

Thank you!