NARCONON PLAN SENT BACK TO COMMISSION COUNTY SUPERVISORS DELAY HEARING.

Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES -- A public hearing on plans for a drug and alcohol treatment center with ties to the Church of Scientology was postponed Tuesday after last-minute concerns surfaced about the rural site in upper Bouquet Canyon.

The proposal to establish a Narconon center came before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and drew a crowd of about 500.

Supervisors sent the plan back to the Regional Planning Commission because of concerns about traffic, fire, safety and flood control. The commission had approved the project in March. Complaints about the approval to Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's office prompted him to call for the hearing Tuesday.

There is no date set yet for the matter to return to supervisors.

Narconon International aims to open a 66-bed facility near Leona Valley on 30.4 acres formerly used for a boarding school.

Narconon President Clark Carr said that if the center had been approved Tuesday, work would have begun immediately. Renovations are expected to take at least six months.

But Carr supported the efforts to resolve any problems.

``We're here for the long haul,'' Carr said.

The center would treat adults whose average stay would be three to four months. Narconon plans no new buildings on the land, which borders the Angeles National Forest, but will add parking.

Treatment used in the program, such as sweating out toxins, has been questioned by critics, who charge that the facility is a front to lure people into the Church of Scientology.

The treatment program began about 40 years ago and is based on the principles of a book by L. Ron Hubbard, the late founder of the Church of Scientology.

When asked about such criticism, Carr called it incorrect and irrelevant. He said there is no religious indoctrination in the program.

``It's hard enough work to get someone off heroin or alcohol without getting into the religious issues,'' he said.

Word of the proposed treatment center on Bouquet Canyon Road had worried some Leona Valley residents who sent a letter last winter to the county Regional Planning Commission about their concerns that their rural community would be disrupted.

Some of those residents arrived at Tuesday's hearing to testify. Among them was Jan Powell, a Leona Valley Town Council member. She helped organize a community meeting for residents to meet with Narconon representatives and learn about the proposed center.

Powell said she was in open-minded at first and wanted to know more about Narconon. She said representatives initially told her that Narconon was not connected with the Church of Scientology, but later told her there was a relationship. She said she felt she had been initially deceived.

``It's not that they're associated with Scientology,'' she said. ``It's the fact that they were deceitful to me.''

Vance Kirkpatrick, a former sheriff's deputy, also came to the hearing. The Leona Valley resident said the location for the treatment center is too remote for quick responses from police or firefighters in case of emergencies.

He recalled a fire several years ago that burned homes in the area before firefighters arrived.

He said the treatment center belongs elsewhere.

``If a staff (member) or neighbor was the victim of a crime, it would be a long time calling,'' he said.

Burbank resident Tom Solari had planned to testify Tuesday on behalf of Narconon. Working in the film-production industry, Solari said he was moved when he filmed Narconon graduation and saw there was not a dry eye in the room.

``There is no community that does not have this as a problem, and to have this there is a tremendous asset,'' Solari said.

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

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