Antonovich Gets Thorny Problem of Picking a Site for Off-Road Vehicle Park

It may prove a no-win situation for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich: Today, the county Parks and Recreation Department will pass to the supervisor the decision on where the county should establish off-road vehicle parks.

No matter what Antonovich does, he is sure to displease many people.

The Parks and Recreation Department, during a yearlong search that has pitted homeowners against off-road vehicle enthusiasts, has narrowed 48 sites down to three--Hume and Bee canyons in the Santa Clarita Valley and Big Wash Rock in the Antelope Valley.

Ready to Build 3

Dorothea Park, a parks department planner, said the demand for off-road vehicle facilities is so great in the county that the department is ready to build all three of the parks.

“It’s up to him now,” she said, referring to Antonovich. He is being asked to pick a site--or reject them all--under the county’s informal practice of allowing supervisors to make such decisions relating to facilities in their district, Park said.

So the supervisor will have to decide which group of people to satisfy--the off-road vehicle riders or the residents.

Park Closed in ’85

Since Indian Dunes Park, a popular off-road vehicle park in Valencia, closed in February, 1985, hundreds of off-road enthusiasts from the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys have had nowhere to ride their vehicles legally, Park said. Many, she said, now ride in unauthorized areas, causing fire and noise problems and risking citations from police.

But proposals to establish off-road vehicle parks have drawn strong opposition from homeowners near all three locations, particularly in Hume and Bee canyons. The Hume Canyon site in Canyon Country and Bee Canyon, near the Soledad and Agua Dulce areas, adjoin rural communities with spacious ranch-style homes on several acres of property.

Residents of these areas have protested at many public hearings that the parks would bring pollution, noise and traffic.

Homeowners File Protests

The Lower Mint Canyon Property Owners Assn. collected 40 signatures on petitions and sent 44 letters opposing the Hume Canyon site to Antonovich. The Soledad Canyon Property Owners Assn. and the Agua Dulce Civic Assn. collected more than 600 signatures on petitions opposing the Bee Canyon site.

“We also wrote a number of letters,” said Boyd Chapman, president of the Soledad Canyon association. “We’d like to spike the whole thing now. This has been going on for over a year now. It’s very frustrating.”

Chapman said he most fears traffic congestion such a facility would bring into his now peaceful community. He predicted a 457-acre, off-road vehicle park, such as the one proposed in Bee Canyon, would bring an average of 17,000 vehicles into the area daily. This would “literally cripple traffic on Soledad Canyon Road,” the park’s only access, he said.

Called Family Recreation

Off-road enthusiasts have been just as vehement in lobbying for a facility. Many said their teen-age children are riding their vehicles illegally anywhere they can get away with it. Others said there is a need for more family recreation such as off-road vehicle activities.

Jerry Counts, director of the American Motorcycle Assn., said the parks are so desperately needed that his association is willing to invest “several millions of dollars” to help the county develop the sites.

So far, Antonovich has not made known his opinions on the issue. But JoAnne Darcy, the supervisor’s aide in the Santa Clarita Valley, said she doubts her boss will anger so many homeowners by giving the go-ahead for either Hume or Bee canyons.

“The pressure from homeowners is getting very heavy,” she said.

Darcy said she has located several alternative sites, only to find some reason why they cannot accommodate an off-road vehicle park.

“We’re really trying our best to find them a site,” she said.

Expansion Is Option

In the end, Darcy said, the county’s only option may be to expand the existing Hungry Valley off-road vehicle park near Gorman, about an hour’s drive from the north San Fernando Valley.

“I know it’s a little far away but we’ve got to find a site somewhere,” she said.

Darcy said she does not know when Antonovich will make his decision.

The county parks would be leased out to private firms to run as profit-making ventures. The county thus would get some of the proceeds from admission fees charged for use of the park, which would include dirt trails for bicycles and motorcycles, motocross tracks and training facilities.