It’s one down and one to go for Apple Valley

The High Desert town just got one major annexation approved, and now it’s gearing up for another. Much is at stake, including some freeway frontage that could be prime commercial real estate.

Earlier this year, Apple Valley got bigger. Not by population, but square footage.

In late February, the Local Agency Formation Commission of San Bernardino County approved an annexation of approximately 1,300 acres, 10 years after the High Desert town first tried to bring it within its jurisdiction.

The previously unincorporated territory, which is undeveloped with no residents or businesses, is bordered by Interstate 15 on the west, Johnson Road on the south, Fairfield Road on the east and Morro Road on the north, according to a city staff report.

That action, which was 10 years in the making, adds three miles of freeway frontage to Apple Valley’s border.

That land will someday become stretches of high-priced commercial, residential and industrial development, town officials believe. They estimate that the annexation, which would be developed in four phases, could add up to 5.7 million square feet of commercial and office space between Morro and Johnson roads alone.

The annexation “is a logical extension of Apple Valley’s continued growth,” Mayor Larry Cusack said in a statement after the commission OK’d the move.

Town officials were thinking about more than future commercial development when they made their annexation request, said Orlando Acevedo, Apple Valley’s assistant director of economic development.

“It’s great visibility, and an identifier to people who drive by,” Acevedo said.

Apple Valley now has absolute control of that land, which has long been within its sphere of influence. To cite one example, development and entitlement processes for projects will now be done according to Apple Valley’s standards, not the county’s.

The annexation will also increase revenue to the town of 75,000, enough to more than pay for services to the area. Apple Valley will also receive 50 percent of the 9.5 percent tax rate under the county’s new “Share The Burden” tax allocation program, according to a fiscal impact analysis.

The plan the commission approved two months ago was far different than the first one the town council submitted to it in 2009. In that request, town officials asked that 2,774 acres – an area known at the time as the Golden Triangle – be added to Apple Valley jurisdiction.

The Golden Triangle is on the north end of town and is loosely bordered by Interstate 15, Dale Evans Parkway and Johnson Road.

That request was denied after registered voters in the area turned it down, said Lori Lamson, assistant town manager.

“There were 54 registered voters and we lost by two votes,” Lamson said.

Ten years later Apple Valley got its annexation, although not nearly as large as the one it first requested.

LAFCO, which establishes borders and spheres of influence throughout California, gave its approval only after the town removed from its application all areas that included houses, something residents in the area asked for.

“It was lot easier [to get commission approval] once we carved all of the residential units out of it,” Lamson said. “The main part for us is the freeway frontage, because that’s the area with the potential for commercial development.”

Without the annexation, the 2,774 acres would remain in Apple Valley’s sphere of influence but it would remain unincorporated. That means San Bernardino County would decide all land use issues, including what kind of development happens there.

Apple Valley was also required to submit a separate annexation application in order to comply with regulations that prohibit LAFCO – a state agency operated by the counties – from creating pockets of unincorporated land.

In February, the town council voted to apply for a second annexation, which would involve its taking over the remaining 1,400 acres of the former Golden Triangle.

The deadline to submit that application is February 2020, but the council probably won’t take action until the town’s next fiscal year, which starts July 1, Acevedo said.

In the meantime, the town might hold a public hearing or two to determine if the people who were against annexation 10 years ago have changed their minds.

“A lot of the people who opposed it still live in that area,” Lamson said.

Apple Valley’s request is like a lot of annexation applications, many of which meet some opposition, according to one local LAFCO official.

“What they’re asking for is pretty typical,” said Sam Martinez, executive officer of LAFCO San Bernardino. “They tried to get everything they wanted in one request, and when that didn’t work they cut their request in half. It can be a very long process.”’

One longtime High Desert commercial real estate broker praised Apple Valley for annexing the land, but expressed skepticism about how much development will happen there.

“I think it’s good that they annexed the land, but from a development standpoint I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Joseph Brady, founder and president  of The Bradco Cos. in Victorville. “I’m 62 years old, and I don’t expect to see a lot of development there.”