Decision on 3 Off-Road Vehicle Sites Postponed

The search for off-road vehicle park sites in northern Los Angeles County is back on again after County Supervisor Mike Antonovich postponed indefinitely consideration of three proposed locations in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

“This is not the end of the line,” Antonovich aide JoAnne Darcy said Monday. “We’re making a real earnest effort to find some other sites.”

The decision to shelve plans to establish off-road vehicle parks at Bee Canyon in the Agua Dulce area, Hume Canyon in Canyon Country and Big Rock Wash in the Antelope Valley was made in response to strong opposition from nearby homeowners, Darcy said.

“We received more than 1,000 letters opposing Bee and Hume canyons alone,” she said.

Narrowed Down From 48

Plans to convert the three sites into recreation vehicle parks were placed on hold after a meeting Friday between Antonovich and officials of the county Parks and Recreation Department. Department planners spent more than a year surveying 48 potential park locations, eventually narrowing possible sites down to the three in question.

County officials will look at the possibilities of combining an off-road vehicle site with a proposed dump in Elsmere Canyon near Newhall and of expanding a state-operated facility in Hungry Valley near Gorman, she said. Negotiations to establish the dump are being conducted among county and Los Angeles city officials and the owner of the site, the BKK Corp. Darcy said it is believed the Elsmere Canyon property can accommodate both uses.

Sites near Oat Mountain in Newhall and north of Castaic also will be surveyed, she said.

Widespread Need

Dorothea Park, a parks department planner, said the department is looking for the best possible site for an off-road vehicle park because of the widespread need for such a facility.

“There just isn’t any place in Los Angeles County for off-roaders to go,” she said.

Park said if a site cannot be agreed upon after more study, then “it’s back to the original three sites. In the end, the supervisor will have to consider them again.”

Boyd Chapman, president of the Soledad Canyon Property Owners Assn., expressed cautious optimism about Friday’s action. Chapman has spearheaded the homeowners’ fight against the off-road vehicle sites.

‘Not Over Yet’

“It looks pretty good right now,” he said. “But we’re going to have to constantly monitor the situation. It isn’t over yet.”

Although off-road vehicle enthusiasts are disappointed, Darcy said, “We must do this with the concurrence of the community.”

County officials say an off-road park probably would include dirt trails for bicycles and motorcycles, motocross tracks and training facilities. The county would lease the facility to a private management firm to run as a profit-making venture.