Baker Canyon Airport Would Be Too Windy and Costly, Report Says

A general-aviation airport should not be built in a narrow Santa Clarita Valley canyon because the site would cost $20 million to develop and is dangerously windy, according to a Los Angeles County report released this week.

By dismissing the Baker Canyon site as unfeasible, the report prepared by the public works department refocuses attention on a controversial county proposal to buy and expand the privately owned Agua Dulce Air Park for a general-aviation airport.

The Board of Supervisors was expected early this summer to review an environmental report on the proposal, which has met with strong opposition by some Agua Dulce residents. But the county postponed the hearings until late summer to conduct the study of Baker Canyon after Watt Industries offered to sell the 283-acre parcel.

The report stops short of recommending that the county acquire and expand the Agua Dulce facility, but states that to do so would cost $3.8 million, far less than developing the Baker Canyon site seven miles north of Santa Clarita.

Included in the $20-million price tag is about $10 million to remove 2 million cubic yards of dirt from the hilly Baker Canyon site for a runway and $4 million to relocate high-voltage transmission lines that dot the property, the report says.

“Agua Dulce is an operating airport right now, so it would obviously cost less to keep on operating it than to take a vacant site and build from scratch,” said Harry Stone, deputy director of the public works department.

The report also states that there are “hazardous wind conditions” at the Baker Canyon site that render the area unsafe for flying.

County officials claim that it is necessary to have a general-aviation facility in the Santa Clarita Valley to relieve congestion at other airports. If the county buys the Agua Dulce airstrip, a maximum of 175 aircraft would be based there, almost a threefold increase. The average number of takeoffs and landings could increase sixfold.

Agua Dulce residents who oppose expansion of the local airstrip expressed concern Friday about the report, saying that financial considerations are less important than preserving the rural character of their community. Construction of houses on less than two acres is prohibited in Agua Dulce, and many residents keep livestock and horses, as is the case in Baker Canyon.

“If Baker Canyon is not a viable site for a general-aviation airport, then neither is Agua Dulce because the two sites are very similar terrain-wise and weather-wise,” said Linda Kirk, an Agua Dulce resident and real estate broker.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, has not taken a position on the airport issue.

“Agua Dulce would be preferable over Baker Canyon given the costs,” said Dave Vanatta, planning deputy for Antonovich. “But we’re still deciding whether to go ahead. We have to weigh the need for an airport against the impact it will have on the community.”