Mike Devich-Managing editor

The Senior Center in Lake Isabella was packed with local citizens last Wednesday, all concerned about the directions the valley will take in the future.

The Kern County Planning Department held a public open house meeting/workshop last Wednesday evening to present its progress on the Kern Valley Specific Plan - which will guide future development here - and to take new comments from the public for their consideration.

The Specific Plan public workshop got a large turnout last week.

Six stations were set up inside the Senior Center, with an official waiting at each one to discuss that station's area of concern.

"We thought this is a better way to get individual comments," said Planning Department Director Ted James. "This will give us comments about what we're missing."

At least one participant pointed out one glaring omission - the Shirley Meadows ski area and Alta Sierra didn't seem to be included in the Specific Plan area.

"We're still talking to the consultants about that," said James, "and what it would cost to incorporate it."

He added, "We have to give the consultants something reasonable (in terms of area). We're willing to look at it."

Also, only the northern part of Kelso Valley was included on Specific Plan Area maps.

James said that the outlying areas of Kelso Valley were too sparsely populated, and he felt that the Specific Plan area needed to concentrate on areas with more people.

But, he said, one purpose of the Open House was to gather input from the public.

Five of the six stations were based on major categories concerning the valley - Land Use (Jeff Henderson); Tourism (Cheryl Casdorph); Circulation (Dave Rickles); Open Space (Karen Northcutt), and Safety (Justine Hearn).

The sixth was staffed by planner Andrea Zajac, who was getting ideas for deciding if the valley needs design guidelines for zoning.

"This would unify everything," she said. The Planning Department is looking at whether the entire Kern Valley (or areas within it) should be unified with a particular theme.

The Planning Department is still in the idea-gathering stage, so if members of the public have any ideas or concerns, they are urged to contact one of two departmental staff:

Cheryl Casdorph, Supervising Planner, (661) 862-8624, cherylc@co.kern.ca.us

Andrea Zajac, Planner II, (661) 862-8767, zajaca@co.kern.ca.us

Looking at the giant scratch sheets the planning officials were using to gather ideas, there seemed to be one thing that was on several of them - putting overhead utility lines underground to further improve the valley's vistas.

Another idea that was written down said that better "No Hunting" signs were needed.

A permanent Kern River Valley campus for Cerro Coso College was discussed at Land Use coordinator Jeff Henderson's station.

One suggestion that was written down had to do with building a performance-type amphitheater on Engineer's Point.

Another one suggested minimum subdivision parcel size limits, since the writer felt there were already plenty of smaller vacant lots available in the valley.

Turning Sierra Way into an official Scenic Corridor was another topic discussed.

Dave Rickles at the Circulation station said that some of the ideas presented were out of the county's power, such as changes to state highways and other things that would fall within the aegis of federal jurisdiction. That would preclude another of the big topics listed, the completion of the four-lane Highway 178 to Bakersfield.