Maps Show Rock Formation in Landfill Area

Challenging a claim by a landfill developer, local naturalists said Friday a rock formation for which they are trying to win state historical landmark status is located within the actual boundaries of the proposed Elsmere Canyon dump site, not merely within the dump’s buffer zone.

Presenting maps drawn by the U.S. Geological Survey overlapped by ones of the proposed dump provided by the landfill developer, local naturalists said La Puerta del Camino Viejo will fall on the eastern edge of the disposal area. Previously, it was unclear if La Puerta fell in the discharge area of the landfill or the buffer zone.

“We have been studying it for the past four years, and we have data and proof about what is in there,” said Marsha McLean, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Canyons Preservation Committee, which co-sponsored the application filed earlier this week to the state Historical Resources Commission to have La Puerta declared a historical landmark.

The long narrow wall of sandstone had been used in the 1800s to guide explorers, pioneers, miners and cattle-drivers traveling between Los Angeles and Northern California.

Local history buffs and environmentalists teamed up to apply for landmark status in part to highlight the area’s past but also to lay down another barrier to the proposed dump.

But state officials said a historic listing for the rock, state or federal, offers little protection against the landfill.

“It does trigger a review and comment period, but that’s about it,” said Steade Craigo, deputy state historic preservation officer. “It does not protect the structure for perpetuity.”

Dump opponents said, however, that the credibility of landfill developer BKK Corp. and its president, Ken Kazarian, is at stake, not just the landmark status of La Puerta.

“If his credibility is questionable now and he is paying for the environmental impact report,” said Pat Saletore, who researched the location of La Puerta, “why should we give any credence to the EIR when it comes out?”

Kazarian, who hopes to build the 190-million-ton landfill, had said the stone feature would fall in a “buffer zone” between the landfill and the community, and designating it as a historical landmark may even be beneficial to the area as a park.

On Friday, Kazarian said the latest brouhaha over Elsmere Canyon may be a case of mistaken identity.

The historical La Puerta that was used as a guidepost for travelers, he said, may lie on the west side of the Antelope Valley Freeway, not on the east side where the landfill is slated to be built.

“There is nothing to indicate that the rock that they are talking about is the one that is supposed to be historically significant,” Kazarian said.