Canyon Country, CA (January 23, 2008) – With shovels in hand, students from the neighborhood Fair Oaks Ranch Community School joined Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich; Pardee Homes’ President and CEO Mike McGee; and other County and school officials in planting a commemorative oak tree as part of the dedication of the new Fair Oaks Ranch Park in Canyon Country. Joining them were local community residents, youth and community organization representatives, and other local officials from throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich pointed out the importance of communities like Fair Oaks Ranch incorporating parks and schools. “I’m very pleased that Pardee Homes worked closely with the County to ensure that important amenities like the public parks, school and other community features were included in Fair Oaks Ranch,” said Antonovich. “In particular, parks, open space and similar recreational facilities are a high priority for the County and are important amenities for area residents.”

Pardee Homes’ Mike McGee applauded the partnership between Pardee Homes and the County of Los Angeles to make the newest park at Fair Oaks Ranch a reality. “This is a major new public park for Fair Oaks Ranch and other area residents,” McGee said. “It is an important centerpiece of this family-oriented, master-planned community and it exemplifies the family-friendly community that all of us here today strive to achieve.”

The park is the final piece of the many public and community amenities featured in Fair Oaks Ranch, Canyon Country’s first master-planned community. McGee added that Fair Oaks Ranch also includes a community and recreational center; additional smaller neighborhood parks; a trail connecting the community to the nearby regional trail network; and the Fair Oaks Ranch Community School. In addition, Pardee Homes has retained more than half of the 877-acre Fair Oaks Ranch community as open space, enhanced by the preservation of hundreds of heritage oak trees.

The six-acre Fair Oaks Ranch Park will be home to a variety of desirable activities, with a non-regulation soccer and softball field, two children’s play areas, basketball and volleyball courts, a covered pavilion and restrooms among the new park’s highlights. Further enhancing the park are picnic tables with barbecues, seating areas and pedestrian paths.

Russ Guiney, director of the County Department of Parks and Recreation, said that the County has been actively pursuing new public parks and open space areas as a high priority. “We were pleased with our work with Pardee Homes for this exceptional new park,” he said. “We worked together on the design, Pardee Homes built the park to that design and now, the County will assume operations and maintenance.”

Students from the nearby Fair Oaks Ranch Community School, joined by Dr. Robert Nolet, Superintendent of the Sulphur Springs Union School District, participated in the planting of the commemorative oak tree at the park. Dr. Nolet said, “Fair Oaks Ranch is truly a family-oriented and child-friendly community we can all be proud of. We commend Pardee Homes and its community-based approach to new homes and neighborhoods.”

Originating in 1921, Pardee Homes is noted for dedication to the educational and civic goals of the communities in which it builds. It is the first homebuilder to be honored by the Governor’s Economic and Environmental Leadership Award, the State of California’s highest and most prestigious environmental honor. The company is also the first to be honored as a company in the Hearthstone BUILDER Humanitarian Award, homebuilding’s largest and most prestigious philanthropic awards program.

Pardee Homes has earned BUILDER magazine’s designation of “America’s Best Builder” and Reed Business Publications has cited it among the industry’s top workplaces. Based in Los Angeles, the company maintains regional homebuilding offices in Valencia, Corona, San Diego and Sacramento in California, and in Las Vegas, Nevada. See www.pardeehomes.com.