Stunning valley locals erupt in fury as 100-year-old orange grove is set to be torn down and replaced by multi-million dollar luxury homes By James Cirrone For Dailymail.Com Published: 21:08, 22 August 2024 | Updated: 21:15, 22 August 2024 e-mail View comments An orange grove just outside Los Angeles that's been around for 100 years will likely be wiped out in favor of multi-million dollar single family homes. Now just 14 acres, the Bothwell Ranch is than less one-thousandth the size it once was, before San Fernando Valley was populated with houses and commercial buildings.
It is the last commercial orange grove in the valley. The ranch itself, named for famed agriculturalist Lindley Bothwell who bought the farmland in 1926, is already surrounded on all sides by houses and all the normal trappings of suburbia. Loren Borstein of Borstein Enterprises is the man behind the plan to rip up the majority of the orange grove and build 21 two-story homes.
And following a public hearing on Wednesday to collect comments from critics, Henry Chu, the city zoning administrator for the project, signaled that he's inclined to approve the proposed development within a few weeks, The Los Angeles Times reported. Pictured: The Bothwell Ranch, which used to be 100 acres, is now down to 14 acres after the family that owned it for decades gradually sold off pieces of the farmland Based on the current development plan, 215 existing citrus trees will remain The fate of the Bothwell Ranch has been in limbo since 2019, when the Bothwell heirs listed the property for sale for $15 million. There was a years-long community effort to preserve the ranch, culminating in an unsuccessful petition .
One local wrote on the desperate bid: 'Don't destroy the last of the historic orange groves that were dominate before civilization took over and destroyed everything. 'SAVE THE ORANGE GROVE!!' Another said: 'It's important to preserve these small enclaves of nature,' while a third added: 'I work across at the school across the street from the grove and it makes me smile every day. 'I can smell the orange blossoms and know it’s giving life to every one of my students and colleagues, my daughter, and myself.
We need trees, and I’m so tired of whole forests, groves, and rainforests just being mowed down for profit.' A fourth angry local said: 'Save the orchards, we need the trees stop the greed to build more condos.' Loren Borstein applied to redevelop the Bothwell Ranch after Borstein Enterprises bought the land Los Angeles City Councilman Bob Blumenfield also sprung into action, and initiated a bid to designate the roughly 2,000 trees on the property as a city historical monument.
The Bothwell trustees then threatened that if the city made the ranch a monument without advancing an adequate purchase offer, they'd kill all the orange trees by purposely cutting off the water supply, The Real Deal reported. Blumenfield said he tried to work with his fellow legislator to scrape together enough money to buy the ranch, but they weren't even able to come up with sufficient funds to buy a portion of the land. Another blow was dealt to the movement to save this land when the LA City Council ruled the site didn't legally qualify as a monument on June 28, 2022.
Once Borstein Enterprises bought the ranch, Blumenfield announced he'd reached a deal with the new owners and the the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to preserve a third of it. An overhead view of what's remaining of the Bothwell Ranch. It is surrounded by single family homes, and if the Borstein development plan is approved, 21 more homes will uproot many of the orange trees Pictured: A row of orange trees on the Bothwell Ranch Based on the current plan, 215 existing citrus trees will remain.
The MCRA will manage the site for educational purposes. 'While I wish there was a way to save the entire Bothwell Ranch, with this partnership we can save a large amount of it to be run by one of the best land preservation organizations in the country,' Blumenfield said. When the citrus orchard was bought by the Bothwell patriarch in 1926, it was 100 acres in size.
Bit by bit, the family sold off pieces of the lands but maintained a farming operation until Ann Bothwell died in 2016. If LA City Planning approves the plan, what was once countless rows of orange trees will be replaced by a new, hip suburban community called Oakdale Estates. The residences will have 'cool' roofs to reduce heat reflection into the atmosphere and new street infrastructure to recycle rainwater to irrigate landscaping and the remaining orange trees.
One critic at the Wednesday public hearing argued that more than a third of the Bothwell Ranch should be preserved Young orange trees are pictured in 1902 where the Arlington Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles is today. Over 75,000 people live in Arlington Heights as of 2022 Designs for the homes suggest they'll resemble modern farmhouses and will feature Spanish architecture. Jeff Bornstein, a longtime San Fernando Valley resident, attended Wednesday's public meeting and criticized the development.
'We have very little that marks our heritage of the past in the west San Fernando Valley,' he said. 'We need to save a lot more of these trees.' The late Ann Bothwell, the last person to manage the land as a farm, had an inkling back in 1998 that residential development may eventually overwhelm her little orange grove.
'We're overrun,' she told a reporter at the time. 'But you can't stand in the middle of Ventura Boulevard and say, "Stop!"' Share or comment on this article: Stunning valley locals erupt in fury as 100-year-old orange grove is set to be torn down and replaced by multi-million dollar luxury homes e-mail Add comment.
