Developer Offers Alternative Site for County Airport

A developer has offered to sell land south of Agua Dulce to Los Angeles County for a general aviation airport, but county officials said Thursday that the site presents serious problems.

Watt Industries of Santa Monica is proposing to sell the county 283 acres east of Sierra Highway in Baker Canyon, said Harry Stone, county deputy director of public works. The site would be an alternative to the county’s proposed acquisition and expansion of the privately owned Agua Dulce Air Park, which has been delayed by public opposition.

The Watt Industries proposal is the latest development in the county’s efforts to acquire an airport in the Santa Clarita Valley area. A 1986 county study showed that there was a shortage of tie-down and hangar space in the Los Angeles area for small planes.

The Baker Canyon site “might be a less controversial site for an airport than the Agua Dulce Air Park, but it has major problems that might be insurmountable,” Stone said.

The primary problem with the Baker Canyon site is that electrical power lines traversing it would have to be moved at significant expense, Stone said. He said, however, that the county is studying the Watt offer.

Stone said the firm has not named a price for the land. Watt officials did not return repeated phone calls from The Times on Thursday.

Jo Anne Darcy, a field deputy for county Supervisor Mike Antonovich, said the Watt property is too close to the 20 or so homes in Baker Canyon. Nine residents have called her to complain about the proposed airport, she said.

“One end of the runway would be right up against my doorstep, which I wouldn’t particularly like,” said Henry Combs, a longtime resident of Baker Canyon who said he did not lodge a complaint with the county.

Jerry Hider, president of the Agua Dulce Airport Assn. and owner of a restaurant in the area, also opposes the Baker Canyon proposal. He called the plan absurd because the county would have to build access roads and grade the sloping property.

But Agua Dulce residents who oppose the expansion of the existing airport support the Watt Industries proposal.

“I think it’s got great promise,” said Joanne Swanson, a member of the Agua Dulce Civic Assn. She said the group opposes expansion of the Agua Dulce Air Park.

Backed by the county Airport Commission and private pilots’ groups, the county in 1984 proposed the use of federal money to buy and expand Agua Dulce Air Park. The current proposal would allow a maximum of 175 aircraft to be based at the airport. At one time, 108 planes were housed at the airport. About 78 planes are based there now.

The federal government provides money for counties to buy general aviation airports because there are a dwindling number of such facilities, said Fred O’Donnell, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Although the total number of airports has increased, there were only 5,592 general aviation airports nationwide in 1990, 698 less than in 1981, he said. Light planes that would have used those facilities are instead clogging major airports, he said.

“I’m not saying we don’t need an airport in the Santa Clarita Valley, but I don’t see why it has to be in the center of our community,” Swanson said.

It would cost about $5 million to buy and improve the Agua Dulce Air Park, Stone said. An environmental impact report on the project is expected to come before the County Board of Supervisors this summer, he said.