COUNCIL PICKS SILEO TO PRESS AIRSPACE PLAN.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Vice Mayor Ed Sileo was selected by his fellow council members to represent the city on a state planning committee that is seeking to protect the airspace used by California military bases, including Edwards Air Force Base.

Sileo will join a committee composed of elected leaders who will oversee a joint land-use plan aimed at protecting the R-2508 airspace, a massive restricted air corridor that stretches from Edwards along the Sierra Nevada. The planning effort is being conducted by the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, in conjunction with Kern County.

The airspace is used by 15 military bases and has been dubbed by Antelope Valley leaders as arguably the most important block of airspace under the Department of Defense.

``It's a national resource and it's something we cannot compromise,'' Sileo said.

The R-2508 airspace is the largest restricted airspace range in the nation and it covers a wide range of terrain, including Death Valley, the lowest point in the United States, and Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental United States. The airspace provides a variety of testing and training opportunities for aircraft and their pilots.

The objective of the study is to protect the military mission while allowing compatible civilian growth in the study areas. The study is aimed at implementing recommendations to avoid or mitigate incompatible land uses.

``As growth occurs, we want to maintain the military mission,'' said Kern County Supervisor Jon McQuiston, who helped lead the push to get the study started.

``Hopefully, the land-use study will give us some tools in our toolbox for planning.''

The city of Palmdale selected Tom Lackey on Oct. 4 as its representative on the committee. The committee will begin working next week.

The study area includes portions of Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Mono, San Bernardino and Tulare counties. The study area includes Edwards, the Army's Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County and the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake next to Ridgecrest in Kern County.

As an example of how planning can help protect military and industrial interests, Antelope Valley officials point to a height-restriction map for wind turbines. In that case, the military, local governments and the wind-energy industry worked together to come up with a map to show where wind turbines could be built and at what heights to avoid affecting low-level flight corridors.

james.skeen@dailynews

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