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Planning commission recommends Beatty Homes subdivision with safety, buffer and no‑build conditions
Summary
The Kern County Planning Commission voted 4–0 (1 absent) to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve a 34-acre Beatty Homes specific-plan amendment and vesting tentative tract map for 77 residential lots, adding conditions to address neighbors' access, a 10-foot landscape buffer, a 20-foot no-build setback and a fire-department‑approved turnaround.
The Kern County Planning Commission on a 4–0 vote recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve a specific plan amendment, zone change and vesting tentative tract map for a 34-acre Beatty Homes site on the south side of Hageman Road that would be subdivided into 77 residential lots. The commission added conditions requiring a vehicle turnaround as approved by Kern County Fire and Public Works, a minimum 10-foot landscape buffer, a 20-foot no‑build setback along the western boundary and a 10‑foot irrevocable offer of dedication for landscaping to the county.
Paul Johnson, assistant planning director, told the commission the proposal would redesignate the site from ER (estate residential) to LMR (low-medium residential), change zoning to enable three phased development (35 lots, 27 lots and 14 lots) and request four variations from the land division ordinance, including a dead-end road length of 2,255 feet. Johnson said the Kern County Fire Department did not object to the road-length variation in part because the project is not in a wildfire‑prone area and all homes would be equipped with automatic fire sprinkler systems. He also said the project would pay roughly $13,000 per residential lot in traffic impact fees — close to $1,000,000 for the 77 lots.
Justin Beatty, representing Beatty Homes, said the applicant supports staff's recommendation and that the developer provided a will-serve letter from Vaughn Water and has access to a sewer trunk line about 0.25 mile away. "We've met with a number of the homeowners... and we are willing to work with them," Beatty said, noting the applicant had a revised plan addressing many neighbor concerns.
Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant about a proposed 6-foot masonry wall along the western boundary adjacent to Passini Street and whether the wall would interfere with existing rural road use. Tanya Love, speaking for about 16 nearby homeowners, said the wall as drawn would "sit directly in the middle of Passini as it is now" and could block emergency access and routine uses such as livestock trailers. In response to those concerns, commissioners and staff negotiated condition language requiring a knuckle/turnaround sized to Kern County Fire Department specifications and a landscape buffer and no‑build area intended to preserve neighborhood access and soften the wall.
The commission's recommendation and conditions will be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for final action; staff said the board hearing is tentatively scheduled for late September and that a formal staff report will be released the Friday before the meeting. The commission recorded a 4–0 vote with one commissioner absent.
