The City of Barstow is located in the Inland Empire North region of San Bernardino County, midway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. [Latitude/longitude at City Hall is 34 degrees, 53 minutes, 30 seconds latitude, 117 degrees, 1 minute, 0 seconds longitude.] Barstow is centrally located in the western Mojave at the entrance to the Mojave National Preserve and is home to the U.S. Army National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, Marine Corps Logistics Base, NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Network, Veterans Home of California, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad's classification yard. With Interstates 15 and 40, and highways 58 and 247 all converging in Barstow, the city is a major transportation corridor with more than 60 million people in 19 million vehicles traveling through Barstow each year. The city is home to an Amtrak depot at its Historic Harvey House. Catering to the tourists is Barstow Outlet and Tanger Outlet Center which together boasts more than 100 outlet stores. Barstow offers all the major conveniences of small town living with the resources of major metropolitan areas only a short drive away.
Size: City limits encompass 40 sq mi.
Elevation: Median (city hall): 2,300
Low (near MCLB): 2,000
High (near Outlet Center Drive): 2,600
Founded/Incorporated: Founded in 1886 and incorporated as a city in 1947
Population (as of 1/1/05): 23,575 (click link for complete demographics of the area)
Taxable Sales (2005/2006) : $541 million
City Budget/Revenues :
(FY2006/2007)
•General Fund: $12.7 million
•Sales Tax Revenue: $5.8 million
Transient Occupancy Tax (bed tax):
$2 million (16% of General Fund)
•Gas Tax Revenue : $544,000
Barstow, California
(Gadson Garden Estates construction site)
The city of Barstow’s most renowned reputation is that it is situated about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Interstate 15 runs directly through the small desert town. It is at the intersection of Interstate 15 and 40, as well as Highways 58 and 247. Although not technically a part of the Victor Valley in San Bernardino, Barstow is often considered a Victor Valley community because of its close proximity, and being situated in the Desert Region of North San Bernardino County. Because of the central and nearly equidistance from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Laughlin, Bakersfield and San Diego, Barstow provides optimal access to Southern California as well as Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. It is well located as an excellent transportation and distribution center in the high desert. Caltrans has begun to add a third lane between the 30-mile stretch connecting Victorville and Barstow.
Next to Barstow (less than 5 miles), is the well-known Factory Outlet Malls of Lenwood that have over 120 major stores, including Polo Ralph Lauren, Gap, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Coach. These Factory Outlets draw huge numbers of people each day, and it often can takes several minutes just to leave the parking lots due to the large number of cars. Barstow's future looks bright.
In July of 2002, the Barstow City Council announced the approval for Rimrock Ranch, the largest housing development in Barstow in decades. The master planned community will include up to 1450 homes on a 564-acre site adjacent to Barstow Heights, which is close to the Barstow Community College. Plans call for lots ranging in size from 7200 square feet to one acre. Eleven acres of the development would be set- aside for commercial projects, apartments, parks and hiking trails.
According to the San Bernardino Sun, June 3, 2003, a 280-member band of Mission Indians from the San Diego area is proposing to build a $ 150-million casino complex and hotel in Lenwood that would be located midpoint between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and less than 3 miles from the proposed Gadson Garden Estates development. The casino would be constructed and operated by the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians, a federally recognized American Indian tribe in San Diego County. The proposed Casino plans to target the 60 million motorists, many bound for the southern Nevada gambling meccas in Las Vegas and Laughlin, who travel I-15 annually. This Barstow casino development would offer a 180-room hotel and a 50,000-square-foot casino with 1,500 slot machines and 25 gaming tables. In addition, plans would call for restaurants, gift shops, and an entertainment venue and recreation vehicle park. The casino complex is expected to attract 2.2 million visitors yearly, and generate annual revenues of $159 million.
A Maglev train system comes to Barstow (Casino Express)
Maglev Technology is short for "magnetic levitation" and is a completely new mode of transportation to most Americans. While trains in America run on wheels and tracks and seldom sustain speeds of 80 miles per hour or more, a Maglev train is operated by non-contact electromagnetic systems that actually lift, guide and propel the vehicle forward at speeds up to 300 miles per hour. Such a transportation marvel is being completed for the corridor between Baltimore and Washington. The German Transrapid Superspeed Magnetic Levitation System (Maglev) technology has been selected for deployment in the Baltimore-Washington Maglev Project and other Eastern Seaboard Corridors. This system provides the most viable high-speed transportation system that will best serve the cities of Baltimore and Washington in the near term, and allows expansion to connect major population centers to the north and the south along the Atlantic coast with demonstrated reliability, safety and programmatic compliance. Similar transportation systems are being planned in many other metropolitan areas on the east and west coasts, such as the Pennsylvania Project and the Florida Project.
In California, after nearly two years of deliberations, regional transportation officials have settled on a route linking West Los Angeles and Ontario International Airport for the first leg of a proposed high-speed railway, and formally asked Congress for money to begin planning. The second leg of the California system is planned for the route between Barstow and Las Vegas, known as the Casino Express.
The route that the California-Nevada commission proposes would follow Interstate 15 and carry passengers between airports in Anaheim, Ontario, Victorville, Barstow, Primm, Nev., and Las Vegas. Average trip time from Las Vegas to Anaheim would range from 86 minutes to 96 minutes at speeds of up to 187 mph. One-way fares between Las Vegas and Barstow would be about $50; fares for the entire route are not yet estimated.
Thursday, September 5, 2002 (Daily Press)
Barstow OKs $50,000 for Maglev train
By KELLY DONAVAN/Staff Writer
BARSTOW - The City Council has allocated $50,000 to the Maglev Project, a planned high-speed rail system that would connect Las Vegas with the Los Angeles basin, with stops in Barstow and Victorville. Council members voted unanimously late Tuesday to provide the funds and approve an agreement with the public-private partnership working on the Maglev Project.
Gadson Garden Estates Construction Site
Barstow, California has been picked as the site for the first Gadson Eldominium Estates. Given the apparent potential for growth and expansion planned for the Barstow Victorville areas, the housing project will be an added attraction for the area. The site that has been chosen is adjacent to the City's only public golf course. Although the golf course is only a 9-hole course, plans are underway to upgrade the country club and course to a professionally designed, major golf course for the high desert. The proximity of the MARS project will be a compelling drawing card. The specific site for the development is currently owned by the City of Barstow, and fronts on the famed highway "Route 66". The first phase of the project will be built on the 31 acres owned by the City. An additional 42 acres (contiguous to the 31) has been acquired for the expansion of the 560+ unit planned development.
The unique senior housing PUD will consist of over 33+ residential mini- estates, each housing up to 12 residents. A multi-purpose clubhouse and social center will be an integral feature to the development. Other features will include swimming pools, tennis and shuffle board courts, a putting green, pro-shop, restaurant, medical clinic, beauty salon, auditorium and dance hall, non- denominational chapel, library and lounge, Internet cafe, mini-mart, exercise center and much more. The construction site is less than 5 miles from Interstate 15 and fronts on Main Street (Route 66). All city utilities and services are immediately to the site.
For a detailed look at the Tract Map, click pic above.
Barstow, CA is the first location for the development of the Gadson Garden Estates, on a 117 acre site that will consist of 166 Veterans townhomes and 297 assisted living-type suites. The affordable housing units are supported with a 45,000 community recreations center, swimming pool, two tennis courts, a restaurant, night- club and bar, commercial kitchen, non-denominational chapel, mini-mart, barber shop and beauty salon, medical & dental clinics and much more.
The city of Barstow’s most renowned reputation is that it is situated about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Interstate 15 runs directly through the small desert town. It is at the intersection of Interstate 15 and 40, as well as Highways 58 and 247. Although not technically a part of the Victor Valley in San Bernardino, Barstow is often considered a Victor Valley community because of its close proximity, and being situated in the Desert Region of North San Bernardino County. Because of the central and nearly equidistance from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Laughlin, Bakersfield and San Diego, Barstow provides optimal access to Southern California as well as Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. It is well located as an excellent transportation and distribution center in the high desert. Caltrans has begun to add a third lane between the 30-mile stretch connecting Victorville and Barstow. 
