There are three major phases in the process of community development projected for the San Joaquin Valley's west side. The first phase involves agricultural experiments using different kinds of crops, agricultural techniques, and ownership arrangements. Beginning when enough people have returned to the land to create a demand for an expanded town, the second phase involves a population of up to 20,000 living and working on several tens of thousands of acres of land. The third phase invovles the overall regional development of the west side. Focusing on strategies for the second phase, this paper set out a long-term strategy for rural economic development; outlines a program for providing back-up services and the necessary community-building on the west side and discusses how rural communities might be organized and financed, what services they can provide, and what benefits might accrue from the development process. Discussed are the: economic considerations affecting west side development; present agricultural strategies of the planning groups; prerequisites for new town development with land reform; basic effect of land reform; land financing effects; estimate of expanded town development costs; economics of profit and nonprofit new town development; financing the rural new town; community/local government partnership for the town; and transition phases--from Huron to the rural new town. (NQ)