Location Suitability
Sierra High Farms’ 123-acre, AG-10 zoned parcel begins about a mile after the pavement turns to dirt on Eastside Lane. It’s about 3 miles as the magpie flys to Highway 395. The land abuts the over 10 thousand acre Park Cattle Company Ranch. Spend some time out here and you’ll see tractors, harvesters, fuel deliveries, and large trucks taking hay, garlic, and cattle to market. You’ll see irrigation canals maintained by heavy equipment, fuel storage tanks, diesel irrigation pumps, and power generators, all supporting the valley’s primary business of agriculture. The land is dotted with multiple metal buildings, silage mill processing, and storage structures. These unscreened buildings and processing facilities have been visible to the entire agriculturally zoned region for many years and have become a part of the landscape. There are already structures exceeding our project's proposed raised-center aisle cultivation buildings in size and/or height. Our project will blend into the existing landscape and land use.
The nearest neighbor to our project is a house, 17 hundred feet to the northeast in Nevada, over five times Mono County’s required setback. The next nearest is approximately 4 thousand feet, and the next is nearly a mile away. Within a 2 mile circle of the project there are only 3 full-time residents. Even with these distances, we understand that change in the look of an area and potential odor are common concerns. The greatest mitigating factor for odor is distance to potential receptors (people’s houses), and this site was specifically chosen because of its great distances to any homes. However, If odor becomes a nuisance as determined by Mono County Code enforcement measurement, there are mitigations included in our Conditional Use Permit. This required permit must be renewed every year and is subject to potential denial every year with millions of dollars at stake if we fail to comply with Mono County rules.
Still, change is unpleasant, and anticipating negative feedback from the only residents within a 2-mile circle, all in Nevada, we started getting to know them in 2021. We shared our plans in advance, including images of our proposed buildings. The aesthetics of our project matter to us and we want it to fit the character of the area. To help achieve this we designed our buildings to resemble horse barns, with raised center aisles to help them look natural in the agricultural setting.
All but one of our core project team members already live in the Antelope Valley, and the categorization of our project as some corporate outside "enterprise" simply isn't true. It is not only our intention, but is demonstrably our practice, to be good neighbors, blend into the landscape, support community projects, and create good, full-time jobs in the Antelope Valley.
