If Quay Valley Ranch is built, would YOU move to it?

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by Clarks

Quay Valley, the garden spot of Buttonwillow.

Funny thing, the massive solar projects projected for the Carrizo Plains aren't going in along I5 because of the dense tule fogs hiding the sun too much of the year.

But, Quay Valley will be fine for people.

Buttonwillow is too far south, Quay Valley is more of a Kettleman City thing.

Funny how this thread keeps popping back up.

[Clarks]

Kettleman City is 50 miles from Buttonwillow, Quay Valley sits between them. Same fog belt.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

They are still planning this? There are abandoned homes in Los Banos. Who would live in an even more remote cookie cutter development during these times of foreclosures?

[Clarks]

If you build it, they will abandon it! Just across the ridge is a failed town, California Valley.

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by Clarks

Kettleman City is 50 miles from Buttonwillow, Quay Valley sits between them. Same fog belt.

The Quay Valley project is in Kings County. Kettleman City is only about 17 or 18 miles north of the Kings County line. As I said it is more of a Kettleman thing.

That area probably sees about 40 days a year when visibility drops below 1/4 mile due to fog, based on other Valley areas since Quay, Kettleman and Buttonwillow don't get tracked.

In comparison Long Beach sees an average of 41 days when visibility is below 1/4 mile, Santa Maria an average of 87 days per year of limited visibility.
Average Number of Days with Heavy Fog - Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC)

[tonyf23ton]

Quay Valley

Quay Valley FACTS
• Size of Property: 13,172 acres
• Population within 3-Hour Drive: 26 million people
• Current number of vehicle trips past site: Over 12 million per year
• New Homes: 50,000
• Residents: 150,000
• New Schools: More than 30
• Race Track: 42,000 seats
• New Jobs: 35,000 - 45,000
• Imported Trees: Over 100,000
• Rivers and Lakes being created: Over 500 acres
• Fiber-optic Homes: 100%
• Solar-powered Homes: 100%
• Solar-Powered Businesses: 100%
• Energy Produced at Full Build-Out: Equal to a 600 megawatt power plant
• Fresh Water Reduced by Re-use: Over 50%
• Current Planning Team Members: Over 250


The jobs will be distributed throughout the community in the form of retail shops, medical and professional offi ces, restaurants and entertainment venues, schools, and other job creating activities. Employment at is expected to range from teenage summer jobs to high paying positions such as senior executives, doctors, attorneys and accountants.2008, the developers of Quay Valley Ranch put the project on hold pending signs of an economic recovery. Probably, the project won't resume unitl early 2010 or 2011. There will be no future documents, or meetings until/unless the applicant restarts the project.[4] The EIR process for the Quay Valley Ranch project should begin as soon as funding is available, There will probably be a minimum of a two-year time span until the delivery of lots to residential and commercial builders. Once funding is available, it will probably be six months before the project is approved, another six months to provide engineering and construction bids and at least one year to complete grading and infrastructure will look to break ground in 2014.
Tony

[Clarks]

Actually, nothing has been submitted to the county since January 2007.

And, curiously, they have moved the whole town from the map they had a few years ago.

And, curiously, the maps they do have are a bit vague on the location of the future ghost town.

Regarding such a few number of days of fog, talk to Asra, the solar plant people that don't want the I5 corridor because of the fog.

Also, Tejon Ranch intends to build a city. A person of reason would take the hills of the ranch over the lake bed of dry (usually) Tulare Lake.

[FresnoFacts]

Clarks, you are right that it has been fairly quiet.

Quay Valley come up in 2008 discussions about the Kings County General Plan and Transportation Plan Updates. Supposedly the developers were working on how to provide municipal services and planning the I5 interchanges. Traffic plans were also supposedly submitted to the county last year.

But in public workshops on the Kings County Blueprint plan for growth, I understand that Quay Valley was not a popular idea.

There seems to have been a flurry of activity on Wikipedia lately about this for some reason. Seeing this new post here I looked and someone has been busy on Wikipedia editing info for the last month. That is why I never trust wikipedia, you don't know who is or why they are changing things.

I have my own concerns about the Quay Valley idea. Too much emphasis on the recreation/entertainment part and the supposed location midway to SF and LA. While the area might make sense for some centralized distribution/logistics to serve the state from a single location I don't see 40,000 jobs ending up there.

New build towns require an economic base, even the railroads understood that in the 19th century by selling land to farmers then creating lots in a new town around the station to serve the farmers. I don't see a base developing there.

The solar guys are all currently pursuing the maximum sunshine locations for the big plants. To me, it is a fixed cost industry, so after the plant is up and running there is little additional variable cost. Every additional 3 days they get in sunshine from a location is basically another 1% increase in revenue to the company. At the plant size numbers talked about it is a good amount of money.

Fresno is currently ranked 3rd among California cities for total solar kilowatts capacity and Bakersfield 7th, so Valley fog is not hurting too much.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

And Tejon Ranch is actually commutable to Southern Kern County and Northern LA County employment opportunities.