The California City Landowners Association

01What is the California City Landowners Association?

The association says it was formed in 1993 to act as an advocate for property owners and to keep its members informed about the issues affecting their land, and it invites anyone who owns vacant land in California City to join; members pay annual dues.¹ The city’s code names the organisation behind it as Mojave County Landowners News, Inc., doing business as California City Landowners Association.²

It is a private organisation. Membership is a choice, not something that comes with owning a lot, and the city’s code deals with it as an outside body entitled to make one appointment to a city committee, not as part of the city.²

02What does it offer members?

The association’s site lists these services for members:³

• newsletters;
• liability insurance for qualified properties;
• information on comparable sales;
• information for visitors;
• recommendations of real estate agents;
• and maps and satellite imagery.

It also carries a page of lots offered for sale by their owners,¹ and says it uses consultants, engineers, attorneys and other professionals to answer members’ questions on taxes, title transfers and other landowner matters.⁴

This page reports what the association says it does. It has not reviewed those services.

How to join or contact it

The association asks owners who want to join to contact its office, through the contact page on its website. Members pay dues each year, and its membership year runs from November to November.¹

03What is the SDI Advisory Committee?

“SDI” stands for Subdivision Deferred Improvement. The city’s code names 29 tracts as SDI tracts: tracts covered by agreements calling for payments by the owners of lots in them, to finance improvements to be built later. What those owners paid for the improvements goes into the SDI Fund.⁵ The tracts are numbers 2898, 2967, 3060, 3061, 3062, 3070, 3071, 3080, 3081, 3139, 3140, 3186, 3187, 3188, 3192, 3193, 3194, 3195, 3196, 3197, 3198, 3243, 3245, 3279, 3280, 3281, 3282, 3288, 3353.⁵ Finding your parcel explains how to check whether a lot is in one.

The Advisory Committee has two members, each serving four years. The city appoints one, who must live in the city; the association appoints the other, who must own an SDI lot. The committee monitors how the SDI Fund is invested and spent, may advise the city on land-use questions affecting the SDI tracts, and can ask the city manager to hire consultants to help it. It acts only when both members agree.²

It can also ask the City Council to review the investment policy, investments and spending of the fund, the yearly figure for what is available for maintenance, and decisions on whether improvements are needed; the council must hear the request in public within fifteen to thirty days. Beyond the council, the city or the committee may petition the federal district court for the Eastern District in a case the code names as Fitzpatrick, et al. v. City of California City. These rules were adopted by Ordinance 14-725 on 21 October 2014.² The code does not say what the Fitzpatrick case decided, and this page has not found its filings.

What the fund is for

The city’s code directs the fund to three uses: building any improvements still owed in tracts 3281, 3282 and 3288 promptly; building them in the other SDI tracts as the need arises; and maintaining what has been built. What it transfers each year for maintenance and administration is capped at the least of several limits, one of them $290,000.⁵

Its stated policy is to spend the fund to encourage new homes in the SDI tracts. By 1 May each year the City Engineer is to send a list of proposed improvements to the committee and the city manager, who recommend projects to the council as part of the budget. An SDI lot owner can propose an improvement too, and must show proof that building is imminent, such as working drawings, an approved construction loan, money in escrow, building plans, a water-meter application.⁵

The committee in 2026

In May 2026 the City Council voted 4–0 for a plan to send the city’s proposed SDI projects, and those submitted by lot owners, to the committee for its recommendations. The city’s own proposal was repairs to Chrysler Road after storm damage in 2025, expected to be paid for mostly with disaster funding through the state’s Office of Emergency Services; the most the city could ask the fund for, as a local match, was $290,000. At the meeting one committee member said it again appeared the city was circumventing the ordinance by bringing the item to the council before the committee, and past the 1 May deadline; council members said the committee should see projects first.⁶

04Is it the same as a similarly named company?

The association warns its members about a separate company with a similar name, California City Absentee Landowners News, L.L.C., which it says was formed by a former principal who has not been involved with the association since the mid-1990s. It asks anyone unsure which of the two is contacting them to check with it directly.⁴ This page has not looked into the other company, and records only that the association says the two are separate.