BEAUTIFYING THE BARN; BANQUET BUILDING PLANNED.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

It may not look like much now - just a concrete floor and a roof with support poles, but no walls, at the entrance of William S. Hart County Park in Newhall.

But administrators in the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation see the pole barn as a future banquet facility and conference center that the local residents will seek out.

It will be the type of place where people choose to have their wedding receptions, community fund-raisers or art exhibits, Park Superintendent Norman Phillips said.

``There's really no limit with what we can do with the facility,'' Phillips said. ``Maybe we can have chamber music there. And people in Santa Clarita Valley want to stay in Santa Clarita Valley when they get married. Once this is ready, they won't have to go to Descanso Gardens or other places to have a nice green setting.''

Parks officials want the public to help them choose between a western or a Spanish colonial look for the banquet center, Phillips said. Money from Proposition A, a county parks bond measure approved by voters, will pay for the improvements.

The park at 24151 N. San Fernando Road is near the downtown-Newhall area that is scheduled for redevelopment.

Regardless of the architectural style, the banquet site will include a a gazebo and pretty grounds, Phillips said.

``We want to make it a really nice facility that everyone will be able to use,'' Phillips said. ``We want the community to come in and tell us what kind of amenities it should have.''

Any money raised from renting the facilities will be used at Hart Park, rather than at any other park in the Los Angeles County system, as part of a court agreement reached in the early 1990s, Phillips said.

Silent screen cowboy William S. Hart willed his estate for use as a park. When the property was taken over by the county in 1958, it was stipulated that there could be no commercialization, Phillips said.

But officials decided that park facilities could be rented for special events, excluding filming for movies, Phillips said.

The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation will hold a meeting on at 7 p.m. Aug. 19 to discuss the project. The meeting will be held in the Saugus Train Station at the park, 24151 N. San Fernando Road.

CAPTION(S):

Photo; Drawing

PHOTO (1--color in SAC edition only) Norman Phillips, a county parks official, visualizes conversion of the pole barn at William S. Hart Park in Newhall into a banquet center.

(2--Color) An artist's drawing shows how the pole barn at Hart Park might look as a banquet, wedding center.

David R. Crane/Daily News