Business View Civil Municipal - Sept 2023

106 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 9 economic gravitational pull. As Meadows points out, with well more than 400,000 residents now, it’s the 48th largest city in the country and the ninth largest in California. However, Shafter is quickly gaining on it and establishing its own unique identity. Meadows cites the new Gossamer Grove neighborhood as a prime example. By the end of 2025, this development will have a total of about 2,500 new homes. He continues that Shafter is truly poised for significant housing growth, with more than 5,000 lots planned. On top of that is the Wonderful Industrial Park owned by Stewart Resnick, a noted billionaire baron of business and one of the richest men in the United States. The 1,600+ acre facility opened in 2003 with Target as the first tenant, with various national and international companies now providing nearly 10,000 jobs. The WIP plans to expand another five million square feet and add as many as 5,000 new jobs from the growing number of tenants. Many communities across America are going green these days, and since the early 1970s, California has always been at the forefront