Planning commission approves 591‑lot Rosemond subdivision map, with design variances and transportation mitigation

The Kern County Planning Commission on March 13, 2025 approved vesting tentative tract map 7387, allowing Rodeo Credit Enterprises LLC to subdivide roughly 160 acres in the Rosamond area into 591 residential lots with lot sizes ranging from about 6,000 to nearly 19,000 square feet. The vote was 4‑0, with one commissioner absent.

Paul Johnson, assistant planning director, presented the project and said the map includes open‑space, amenity and drainage basin lots totaling about 7.5 acres and requests limited design variations to the land division ordinance including block lengths in excess of 1,320 feet, lot depths greater than three times lot widths, double‑frontage lots and key reverse lots. “Vesting tentative track map 07/1987 contains 160 acres and the applicant is proposing to subdivide the land into 591 residential lots,” Johnson told the commission.

Johnson and staff said agency comments and four neighbor letters were received; public comments ranged from conditional support if construction meets standards to objections over potential impacts on schools, traffic and emergency services. Subsequent comments submitted after the staff report were provided to the commission as an addendum, staff said.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Arnold Bowen asked for clarification on traffic routing and whether Park Center would become a through route for the new development. Paul Murphy and Mr. Johnson said the developer will be required to dedicate right‑of‑way and construct Type A street improvements (curb, gutter and sidewalks) where the project frontage touches proposed roadways, and that the project will pay transportation impact fees that fund area traffic improvements when traffic warrant them. As Mr. Murphy explained, the Kern County Public Works Department maintains a list of roadway improvements funded by those fees and “this project would pay its fair share for those and then when the traffic developed in such a manner that the current county public works department determined that such an improvement was needed, then they would implement that improvement through the fees that have been collected.”

Chris Panaro, representing Rodeo Credit Enterprises, said the applicant agrees with the staff report and conditions and that the project aligns with the Rosamond specific plan’s goals for orderly growth and housing variety.

The commission approved the vesting tentative tract map with the recommended conditions and adopted the draft findings. Commissioners were advised an appeal of the commission’s action to the Board of Supervisors is available within 10 days of the decision; appeals must be filed at the county planning office with a $562 filing fee.