SPUSD board gets update
on East Area 1 development

Harold Edwards, CEO of Limoneira Company has told trustees of the Santa Paula Unified School District that groundbreaking for the East Area 1 project is planned for January of 2015.

He was at the meeting to give the board an update on the project. The 523-acre parcel north of Highway 126 will hold 1,500 homes. On the other side of the freeway, East Area 2, will become a 360,000 square foot retail/commercial/industrial center. Included in the plans are an elementary school and a five acre sports and recreation area.

Development partner Mike Penrod said they are very excited about getting the project off the ground. “It has been a long time coming,” he said. “The vote was in 2008 and since that time it took three years to get a green belt agreement. It took us another three years to get through the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). We’re finally getting ready to get going with the project.”

Penrod said they’ve already filed a tentative tract map with the city and they’re moving forward with an environmental impact report (EIR). Public review of the final draft EIR will take place in mid-July through the end of August. A joint Planning Commission and City Council hearing is planned for October 6 of this year. He noted that grading should get underway, starting in January and will be completed by October 1 of next year. Construction of residential units will then begin with the first homes slated to be occupied in April of 2016. They expect to build between 150-to-200 units a year.