By Pat Orr
Apple Valley Review
I spent two days in late 1986 mapping out a plan to build multiple retail stores in the Victor Valley with my partner and a corporate real estate expert from Detroit, Mich.
We looked at population, housing density and available retail. After all that, we decided that our best chance of success was to develop stores in Victorville, Hesperia and Apple Valley, in that order.
Apple Valley was last because there were no tract homes, little retail development and it was the bedroom community where the highest income earners lived — which wasn’t our target market.
In August 1989, when I finally convinced my family we needed to live in the Victor Valley, we chose to settle in Apple Valley because of the schools. As business owners, we only had two real choices: Spring Valley Lake or Apple Valley.
In those days, Spring Valley Lake kids were bused out to Victorville schools which didn’t measure up to those in Apple Valley.
Although I had spent my days in the Victor Valley for almost two and a half years, I didn’t pay any attention when Apple Valley went through their incorporation process.
I did think it was a little uppity of them to become a “Town” and not settle for cityhood like everyone else.
After bribing my daughter with the promise of a horse, we relocated to Apple Valley. It shortly became clear why it was so important to be a town.
I have always been interested in what lies behind the curtain so I dove into the history of the area. The group that organized the vote and process to incorporate went through a lot of trouble to establish a different “feel” here. I was told that our actual name as incorporated is, “The City of the Town of Apple Valley.” That mouthful was the only legal way we could be called a town. It is in our name.
Apple Valley is the only area in the High Desert that was created purely for the enjoyment of its residents. Hesperia grew out of a stagecoach/railroad stop for hot springs, Victorville had railroad and military ties as did Barstow. No one actually ever came to Apple Valley for the apples. They came to Apple Valley to spread out and be left alone. They stayed on the other side of the river on purpose.
When Roy Rogers and Dale Evans moved here and became a part of our community, it cemented Apple Valley’s persona as an open space modern living Western lifestyle. It also meant that we would never be too concerned with freeway frontage and mega malls. We did like riding our horses to the Apple Valley Inn or Country Club for a snort.
We have consistently resisted “urban sprawl” and even went so far as to recall three Council members who wanted to approve massive tracts of cookie cutter homes to spur growth in the 90s while we cemented residential land use rules.
Apple Valley — to the displeasure of some — has grown. But it has grown slowly and in a way that has contained unwanted growth. If you want examples of what we would look like without our fierce desire to control growth, just travel from the freeway to Victor Valley College on Bear Valley Road and count the strip centers and liquor stores.
We remain a small town where if you desire you can get involved, meet people and make a difference. Like every area of the valley we have had our issues. When George Air Force Base closed, the apartments and multi-family units previously full of military started the downward spiral to low income housing. A commitment to public safety has always been a hallmark of Apple Valley and always will be. Whether it’s because Apple Valley tends to have older more affluent voters or because of the strong military retiree presence, we just flat won’t put up with crime, gangs and drugs taking over our town.
Like a lot of us, Apple Valley has matured in the last 25 years. We still like a good fight over a piece of property or a new retail center and cry — “Not In My Neighborhood” — but the future looks pretty good in our town. Why? Because we care, we are involved and we want to be a better place to live.
We are town folk, not city dwellers.
Pat Orr is a local business owner, community volunteer and political junkie.