Centennial Community Plans Include Two New High Schools

BY JULIE DRAKE, Valley Press Staff Writer
Reprinted with permission from The Antelope Valley Press

LANCASTER - Two high schools would be built in the proposed 6,000-acre Centennial master-planned community at the Antelope Valley's far western end under an agreement approved by Antelope Valley Union High School District trustees and Centennial Founders, the development partnership.

Centennial could see up to 60,000 people living in 23,000 homes proposed on what is now Tejon Ranch cattle-grazing land - from 300th Street West to the foothills at Quail Lake, from Highway 138 to the Los Angeles County line.

"Obviously this is a big deal for both this district and for Centennial Founders," said Jeff Foster, deputy superintendent of financial services.

"We've been working on this agreement for 17 months; it's a comprehensive agreement that we feel very good about."

The proposed development is within the extreme northwest edge of the high school district's attendance zone.

A draft environmental impact report for Centennial is expected to be ready for public review later this year.

Foster described the negotiation process as a collaborative and professional process and said the agreement is mutually beneficial. He said the high school district is protected, with all its costs to date 100% reimbursable by the developers.

According to the agreement, the high schools would be designed and built to accommodate up to approximately 2,850 students in permanent facilities on a traditional, single-track school schedule, with the capacity to add 17 modular classrooms to house up to 500 additional students on an interim basis.

"We believe that the agreement protects and enables the district to build and operate schools in this new master-planned community, whenever it will come about, with the construction cycles that we all know go up and down over time," he said.

"We're very pleased with the results of this agreement," said Carlene Matchniff, vice president of Pardee Homes.

Pardee Homes is one of four partners in Centennial Founders. The others are Tejon Ranch Co., Lewis Investment Co. and Standard Pacific Homes.

"I think whether we ultimately have schools between here and there, this is a good deal for us because it makes this project self-sustaining," trustee Al Beattie said.

"We're not going to be going back to the residents of Lancaster and Palmdale and asking them to build a school out in Centennial. When we started this 17 months ago the vision was to make this work and see it self-sustaining. This agreement, in my opinion, reaches that goal. The district will not be harmed financially."

Trustee Donita Winn thanked Centennial Founders for their willingness to work with the high school district and called the agreement a "win-win for everyone."

A similar agreement on the elementary schools needed to serve Centennial's residents is expected to be heard by the Gorman School District board of trustees at a meeting in February or March.