Panel Urges Ballot to Decide Future of Agua Dulce Air Park : Aviation: Advisory measure would ask residents if they support a scaled-down, county-operated facility.

Los Angeles County should hold an election within the next 90 days to help settle the fate of Agua Dulce Air Park, an aviation advisory panel has recommended.

The 35-year-old private facility is up for sale by its owner and various groups have divergent visions for the 208-acre site.

County officials and many business leaders want a general aviation facility in the Santa Clarita Valley to serve the area’s growing business community. Most residents would like to see the air park shut down or, at least, the property remain as it is--with a small air park surrounded by undeveloped, rural land.

The County Board of Supervisors appointed the advisory panel to determine whether the county should buy, lease or leave the air park alone, entering a decades-long debate over the small airport’s possible expansion.

Pilots say a county buyout would keep the airport from closing and being turned into development property. But many residents of this rural community say county ownership would bring more planes, noise and traffic.

The aviation commission recommended an advisory election in a report distributed to the supervisors Friday. The report’s conclusions are expected to be discussed by the board Tuesday.

“This has dragged on long enough,” said member Jim Burton. “People have the right to put this to bed.”

An advisory ballot measure would ask residents if they support a scaled-down, county-operated airport with the county limiting expansion. About 70 acres would come under Los Angeles County ownership.

An advisory election is non-binding and estimated to cost between $8,000 and $10,000, to be paid by the county’s Aviation Enterprise Fund, which collects airport fees.

“We recommend holding an advisory vote and paying for it from the money we’ve made from other airports,” Burton said. “In other words, it won’t cost the county anything.”

Many pilots who use the facility are concerned that an election open only to registered voters in the 2,100-member Agua Dulce community is too limited. They say the airport is an important site for emergency landings and transportation to and from the Santa Clarita area after a disaster.

“You’ve got to look at the broader picture,” said Al Shaver, manager of the airport. “It’s the only airport between the Antelope Valley and below.”

The facility was active after the Northridge earthquake, when the valley was virtually cut off from Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. A log of airport activities included in the report shows that 464 flights arrived at and departed the airport between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23, six times the airport’s normal activity.

“In my mind’s eye, I believe the earthquake did have some impact (on the commission’s report),” Burton said. The airport “provided a tremendous opportunity for lots of people. There were clearly some humanitarian flights.”

The strip transported five law-enforcement officers from Santa Clarita to San Fernando and Santa Monica and several insurance adjusters into the valley. Utility company representatives arrived to check oil and telephone lines and private pilots gained access to family and friends difficult to reach by damaged freeways.

Supporters hailed it as proof of the airport’s value in an emergency. But that opinion isn’t shared by some residents. Critics said nearly all of the flights after the quake were by helicopters--which can take off and land without a runway.