PALMDALE — The City of Santa Monica has approached Palmdale about using land to build housing to help meet Santa Monica’s state-required new housing development goals. “They are land-poor and we are land-rich,” City Manager Ronda Perez said when she informed the City Council on Wednesday of the yet-undefined proposal.

A set of three wildlife crossings — meant to provide safe passage for bighorn sheep and other animals — has been added to the plans for a high-speed rail line project between Las Vegas and Southern California. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Transportation and rail builder Brightline West announced on Wednesday their agreement to design and build the crossings over the planned 218-mile rail line, slated to occupy the center divider of the heavily trafficked 15 Freeway. Construction of the rail line is slated to begin in the second half of 2023 with completion expected in as many as four years, Brightline said.

PALMDALE — A milestone was reached Thursday for a proposed underground water storage project near Pearblossom that would store surplus water in the underground aquifer from the State Water Project during wet years. The governing Board of the Antelope Valley State Water Contractors Association, which includes the Palmdale Water District, Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency and Littlerock Creek Irrigation District, accepted the Big Rock Creek Draft Feasibility Plan.

PALMDALE — As the city approved a new General Plan last fall, it is now faced with adopting the corresponding zoning code to implement it. The Planning Commission on Thursday took the first step in that process by recommending the revised zoning code be adopted by the City Council next month, but with some small changes as a compromise with developers to increase the flexibility in some areas.

PALMDALE — The City Council on Wednesday will consider awarding a $17.5 million construction contract to build out the remaining 12 acres of Yellen Park. The project, the second phase of the park, which opened in 2018 at 50th Street East and Avenue S, will include a community building, additional restrooms, an additional playground for children ages 2 to 5, picnic areas, a multi-use field and futsal courts. It will also feature additional lighting along walkways, drought-tolerant landscaping and natural grass and artificial turf areas, according to the staff report.

LANCASTER — The Lancaster City Council approved an amendment to the Avanti North Specific Plan housing development that will modify the development standards and allow for an increase in residential lots. The amendment allows a maximum of 873 single-family residential lots in the area generally bound by avenues K and K-8 and 62nd and 70th streets west.

PALMDALE — The City Council, on Wednesday, hired a consultant to help develop a long-awaited Parks and Recreation Master Plan to provide a blueprint for future parks facilities and improvements.

PALMDALE — Palmdale is building on the economic development successes that earned it the 2021 Los Angeles County’s Most Business-Friendly City award in the 26th annual Eddy Awards, the city’s Economic and Community Development team reported, during a Jan. 18 presentation to the City Council.

LANCASTER — The City of Lancaster will spend up to approximately $3.27 million to purchase a vacant tax-defaulted parcel at Avenue H-6 and Trevor Avenue and a neighboring estimated 14.13-acre parcel at Avenue H and Division Street.

LANCASTER — The Antelope Valley Transit Authority closed out 2022 with another milestone as the nation’s first and largest all-electric local bus fleet to pass 10 million electric miles, at the end of December.

LANCASTER — The City of Lancaster has been allocated approximately $2.45 million in one-time federal funds that could be used for proposed affordable housing with wrap-around services. The funds are from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME-American Rescue Plan Act. The city hired consultant MDG Associates Inc. to prepare a proposed allocation plan for the funds.

LANCASTER — Antelope Valley Community College District administrators hope to secure an approximately $60.68 million Affordable Student Housing Grant from the state to fund the cost of construction for a proposed student housing project that could house up to 300 students.

Chinese automaker BYD outsold Tesla by a wide margin last year with the help of its inexpensive electric cars. BYD has now become the biggest EV maker in the world.

PALMDALE — The City of Palmdale, along with other local agencies, is looking for ways to facilitate a housing development on approximately 13 acres owned by the city and the Palmdale School District. The goal of the effort to help a shovel-ready development is to accelerate housing production and to address local housing needs, according to a news release from the City of Palmdale.

LANCASTER — Access Services will purchase two vacant parcels totaling 3.39 acres in the Lancaster Business Park from the city of Lancaster to construct a paratransit operations and maintenance facility. The City Council, at the Dec. 13 meeting, approved a disposition and development agreement with Access Services for the sale and subsequent development of the two parcels on the southwest corner of the park between east avenues L and K-15 along Morton Way.

LANCASTER — The Lancaster Planning Commission approved a tentative tract map and Conditional Use Permit for a first-of-its-kind age-restricted gated residential development on 40 acres at the southeast corner of 60th Street West and Avenue K-8.

LANCASTER — The Lancaster Planning Commission unanimously granted applicant SG H2 Holding Co. LLC/Dr. Robert T. Do, a Conditional Use Permit for the construction and operation of a renewable hydrogen fuel facility on about 15 acres at the northwest corner of Sixth Street East and Columbia Way (Avenue M), in the heavy industrial zone, and approved a mitigated negative declaration for the proposed project.

LANCASTER — The Lancaster Planning Commission approved a tentative tract map for a subdivision of 34 single-family homes on approximately 10 acres of vacant land at the northeast corner of 35th Street West and Avenue J-8.

PALMDALE — The Planning Commission approved plans for another hotel near Avenue P-4 and Fifth Street West, south of the existing Embassy Suites hotel. The proposed four-story hotel will have 107 rooms and will include an adjacent drive-through coffee shop, according to the plans presented to the Commission.

MOJAVE — The Mojave Air and Space Port Board of Directors is eager to get started on a project to add as many as 24 new hangars for general aviation aircraft. The expansion of the General Aviation area of the airport, on the west side of the flight line, would continue the easternmost rows of hangars to the south, into what is about 2.7 acres of currently vacant land.