Council Limits Building North of Airfield : Lancaster: The vote comes after officials warn that development could force closure of Air Force Plant 42.

Bowing to warnings that housing encroachment could kill Air Force Plant 42, the area’s biggest employer, the Lancaster City Council has voted to drastically limit construction on 730 acres north of the airfield.

The 5-0 vote Monday night was the first major policy decision on housing around the 5,700-acre base by the present council, which has two new members following the April election.

It reversed the prior council’s policy of permitting extensive development there.

“This is a landmark decision for this council. This is an opportunity to correct what we view as a mistake of the past,” said Air Force Lt. Col Scott Allen, commander of Plant 42, the aircraft test and production complex where the space shuttles and B-1B and B-2 bombers were assembled.

Air Force officials had warned that Plant 42 could be closed, and its 7,400 jobs lost, if the city continued to permit high-density development north of the facility.

The Air Force feared that if large numbers of people were allowed to live near the complex, they would complain about jet noise and other airfield nuisances, causing a public relations problem. Because the Defense Department is looking for bases to close due to its shrinking budget, that would leave the facility vulnerable to closure as too troublesome to retain, Allen said.

Under the council’s decision, no more than one or two houses per acre--typical of rural areas--could be built on the specified vacant property. The city’s prior planning guidelines permitted two to five houses per acre, typical of urban tract developments.

Several developers and property owners argued that the changes, which reduce the value of their land by curtailing development, were too hasty and drastic. They also argued that their land was no more affected by jet noise than much of the remainder of Lancaster.

The only change the council made to a recommendation for an 800-acre low-density zone recommended by city planners was to remove a 71-acre parcel owned by Harris Homes. Council members said they need to consider how downsizing that planned 267-lot development would affect a Mello-Roos tax district already formed for the area.

The prior council had balked at approving similar development limits over a broader area north of Plant 42 in April, 1991. Then, in March, just before the election, the council approved a new General Plan for the city that again preserved high-density development rights in the area.

The council’s action Monday reverses much of that decision, although some tract development has already begun in the area--involving more than 1,000 proposed houses--and under the law cannot be stopped.

The new development limits apply to scattered vacant areas between 15th and 40th Streets East, and between Avenues K and L.

Part of the property is in a so-called overflight area north of the plant that Air Force officials say is subject to random but very loud noise from planes practicing repeated takeoffs and landings.