LOS ANGELES — Drive through the San Fernando Valley and it is easy to spot the hallmarks of suburban Southern California: streets lined with palm trees, carefully sheared hedges and red-tiled roofs, a blur of tidy development.

But turn a corner in one neighborhood and a 12-acre orange grove comes brightly into view.

Bothwell Ranch is one of the last remaining orange groves in the San Fernando Valley, a vestige of the long-evaporated citrus industry. The grove, with its tightly packed rows of orange trees, calls to mind another time, before relentless development transformed this rural agricultural area into endless sprawl.

The ranch is at the center of a growing dispute between its owners, who have sought to sell it to luxury housing developers, and community members who believe it should remain an orchard. The Los Angeles City Council is currently considering a proposal to give the site a historic designation to preserve at least part of the orchard.

Whether or not the family sells the property is still to be seen.

“At this point, they’re just trying to figure out what to do because there has been so much interest,” said Ciara Trujillo, a senior vice president with the real estate firm Colliers International. A lawyer representing the family did not respond to a request for comment.