For most of the first half of the 20th century, farms and orchards covered big swaths of LA County. It was the top agricultural county in the nation, and citrus played a key role in the branding and selling of Southern California.

Now, the San Fernando Valley may see the demise of its very last orange grove.

Roger Vincent covers real estate for the LA Times and he joined Lisa McRee on LA Times Today to share what may replace that grove. 

The Bothwell Ranch in the San Fernando Valley was founded in 1926. After standing for nearly 100 years, Vincent explained, it could soon be replaced by homes. 

“Once upon a time, it was 100 acres. The family gradually sold it, and then [Bothwell’s] widow died in 2016 when there were 14 acres left. And it was time finally to get out of the business,” he said. 

The land is now owned by Borstein Enterprises, a real estate developer from LA.

“They’ve been working on a plan for a long time to redevelop this 14 acres into 21 two-story houses, nice luxury houses. But as part of the process, they’ve agreed to save a third of this site as an agricultural preserve. The remaining orange trees will stay there and be managed by a foundation for educational purposes,” Vincent said. 

The company has pledged to keep the land as eco-friendly as possible. 

“The drainage system and the roofs will be solar. It’s going to have a lot of aspects that we would expect to see in a new development like that,” Vincent explained. 

There has been some opposition to the development plans from locals.

“I’m hearing some people are still sad that they didn’t keep the whole thing orange trees, but the trees were old and no longer really in their prime fruit bearing years,” Vincent shared. “They hadn’t been watered properly. And water is expensive. I know that Mrs. Bothwell had a hard time keeping up in the later years, so there wasn’t a lot left to preserve. But there will be that the remaining portion that will be used for education and special events.”

The housing development is close to approval, and Vincent said they could be built in the next couple of years.

Watch the full interview above.

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