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AGUA DULCE AIR PARK ALLOWED TO EXPAND BOARD ALSO VOTES FOR SOME RESTRICTIONS ON FACILITY.


Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

After more than two years of division between residents of Agua Dulce Agua Dulce is Spanish for "sweet water". It also refers to various locations:

In Mexico:
  • Agua Dulce, Veracruz
In the United States:
  • Agua Dulce, California
  • Agua Dulce, El Paso County, Texas
  • Agua Dulce, Nueces County, Texas
 over the fate of their local airport, the county Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S.
 had the final word Tuesday when it voted 4-1 to allow the facility to expand.

The board's vote allows the Agua Dulce Air Park to expand under a decades-old permit, but it also put in place new restrictions.

Some residents in the area have complained about noise and airport operations, and county officials had found the airport illegally constructed a swimming pool and undertook other unauthorized activities.

But under the board's vote, the owners will be allowed to add 18 hangars to the present 37, build a 20-room hotel and restaurant and create a 250,000-square-foot area to tie down planes.

``I felt that we were as restrictive as we possibly could be, and it's been a very divisive di·vi·sive  
adj.
Creating dissension or discord.



di·visive·ly adv.

di·vi
 issue out there with the people," said Supervisor Don Knabe Donald R. Knabe (born October 15, 1943 in Illinois) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, serving the Fourth District, a crescent shaped district that covers the coastline from Marina Del Rey southward to Long Beach, and southeastern Los Angeles County to . ``So we just needed to move on. It's been going on for a long time.''

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San , whose district includes Agua Dulce, cast the lone vote against allowing the airport to expand. He suggested a list of additional restrictions on the airport, including a limit of three helicopter flights and landings per day.

But although the board approved other restrictions, including a limit on the airport of 30 days of filming per year, it did not take up Antonovich's list of additional restrictions. The airport also has volunteered to not allow nighttime flights, and to bar jets and aircraft weighing more than 30,000 pounds from using the airport.

``Supervisor Antonovich is disappointed that the board chose to reward an operator who has flagrantly fla·grant  
adj.
1. Conspicuously bad, offensive, or reprehensible: a flagrant miscarriage of justice; flagrant cases of wrongdoing at the highest levels of government. See Usage Note at blatant.

2.
 and consistently violated vi·o·late  
tr.v. vi·o·lat·ed, vi·o·lat·ing, vi·o·lates
1. To break or disregard (a law or promise, for example).

2. To assault (a person) sexually.

3.
 the county's laws and procedures,'' said Antonovich aide Paul Novak. ``The board's action regrettably ignores the very real concerns of the residents of Agua Dulce.''

But the board also heard from Agua Dulce residents who supported the airport. Many came on a bus to Tuesday's meeting.

A few of the speakers said the fate of the airport has divided their community.

``Please, so the community can get back to living again and having people talk to each other, please make a decision," said resident David McCord.

Several residents said the airport has been a bad neighbor.

``I do not want to see that the airport is given a long-term contract to where they can expand without any form of regulations,'' said Agua Dulce Town Council member Peg Spry. ``It's an airport that has no control tower, and as we can see in the past, there have been many things that have happened where there is no control.''

Residents have complained about aerobatics aerobatics

Sport of performing maneuvers such as rolls, loops, stalls, spins, and dives with an airplane. As an organized sport, rather than as an air show attraction (“stunt flying”), aerobatics began international competition in 1960 under the auspices of the
 at the airport, but county officials could not confirm those reports and a representative for the current owners said they do not condone condone v. 1) to forgive, support, and/or overlook moral or legal failures of another without protest, with the result that it appears that such breaches of moral or legal duties are acceptable.  aerobatics.

County officials have confirmed other violations, however, including grading and paving without an approved site plan, the extensive promotion of the facility for film production and special events, and building a swimming pool and oversize o·ver·size  
n.
1. A size that is larger than usual.

2. An oversize article or object.

adj. o·ver·size also o·ver·sized
Larger in size than usual or necessary.

Adj. 1.
 hangers hangers

used for hanging x-ray films to dry. There is a clip type, with a clip at each corner, and a channel type in which the film sits in channels in the sides of the frame.
 without proper permits.

Supporters of the airport said it provides a vital link for their rural community in an emergency, and that it provides open land that would be gobbled up by developers if the airport had to shut down.

Knabe also acknowledged that the airport is an important resource for fighting wildfires.

Dan White, 49, a pilot from Agua Dulce who bought a hangar at the airport, hasn't been able to use it as the airport's fate has been held up by county officials.

``It's hard for me to understand that the airport owners keep having to jump through hoop after hoop,'' he told the board.

Although officials said the board's is the final word, under the conditions approved Tuesday, the permit will expire in 20 years, with the option for a 10-year extension.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

(661) 257-5253
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Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Nov 15, 2006
Words:651
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