Minutes of Agua Dulce Town Council Meeting

AGUA DULCE TOWN COUNCIL UPDATE May 10, 2000 A

s you probably know, the Agua Dulce Town Council is a nonprofit corporation. Agua Dulce is not an incorporated city with a council funded by taxpayer dollars. The council is not a private club which charges a membership fee to cover operating costs. Therefore, the only sources of money to operate the council are either fund-raisers or donations. The council is in need of cash in order to meet its operating expenses. We could hold a fund-raiser, which would necessitate dipping into our meager treasury for the costs of a function, and would probably earn us $500 for hours of work. We believe that our volunteer-time is better spent on the many issues currently on the council's agenda. Therefore, we are sending you a plea. Please send us a check, in any amount, as a donation. We need to pay rent for the Women's Club for our meetings; we need to pay for volumes of photocopies in order to share our research on various projects as well as to respond to various issues like TMC; and we need to reimburse expenses incurred by council members and committee chairs for things like audio tapes to record our meetings and parking when attending a Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors hearing. We promise that your money will be well spent in our effort to represent your interests and to protect the Agua Dulce community. Thank you, in advance, for your support.

TRANSIT MIXED CONCRETE: The City of Santa Clarita has invited the Agua Dulce Town Council to attend a "Key Representatives" meeting on Wednesday, May

17th. The purpose of this meeting is to update regional representatives on the current status of this proposed mining project in the Soledad Canyon area of our community. It will also focus attention on an on-going regional strategy for impacting the large-scale mining plans in this area of the Bureau of Land Management, Transit Mixed Concrete/Southdown, and Vulcan Materials (formerly known as CalMat).

PUBLIC FORUM - Thursday, May 25: The Civic Association and the Town Council will host a Public Forum on noise issues at the Agua Dulce Women's Club, Thursday, May 25th, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.. Each organization has been approached by various residents of Agua Dulce on the issue of noise. These issues have involved a variety of sources - engines, music from car radios and home stereos, four legged or winged friends, and commercial ventures like movie shoots - which have emanated from private properties or publicly owned sites such as Vasquez Natural Area or public streets.

This public forum is being held because there have been enough comments from residents to identify noise as a general issue in this community. This forum was not organized to address any one specific neighbor's issue with another. Neither the Town Council nor the Civic Association's Charter and Bylaws provide any franchise to the organizations to mediate or take sides between neighbors.

The purpose of this forum is to provide an opportunity for residents of the Agua Dulce community to identify, define, and discuss possible solutions to the identified issue of noise in general. It is the intent to provide equal opportunity for everyone to be heard. We encourage you to join with your neighbors in a discussion of the issue. An agenda for this evening will be printed in both the Country Journal and the Acton-Agua Dulce News and will be posted on bulletin boards around town. Coffee and cookies will be served.

We look forward to seeing you at the Civic Association/Town Council Public Forum on May 25th. Should you be unable to attend, but wish to make your views known on the subject of noise issues in Agua Dulce, please send an Email to AguaDulceCouncil@aol.com . Your Email will be read to those attending the meeting. You may remain anonymous, as long as you make this request clear in your Email. Please include a statement as to whether or not you are an Agua Dulce resident.

STREET ISSUES: Just a reminder that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (DPW) will begin resurfacing county-owned, public streets in July. Public streets which received a slurry seal earlier this year, and private roads will not be impacted.

Corie Tomczak, Chair of the council's Traffic & Safety Committee, reported that a representative from DPW has made the suggestion that reflective tape be placed along both sides of the curves at both the Agua Dulce Elementary School and at Boston Henry. The DPW has already posted a suggested speed limit of 15 mph, and placed reflectors along the curve at the elementary school. If the addition of reflective tape does not further reduce the number of traffic accidents on this curve, the DPW will then consider adding two street lights. The lights, if installed, would be flat lights of no more than 50 watts, designed to minimize impact on nearby homes as much as possible.

PROPOSED WINERY ORDINANCE: On May 24th, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission will hold a hearing and vote on a proposed amendment to L.A. County Zoning Code, Title 22, to permit wineries and incidental uses in agricultural and industrial zones. Juan Alonso, owner of LeChene Restaurant in Agua Dulce, as well as Dr. Kent Madsen of Acton, were instrumental in the development of the proposed amendment. Although the question was posed to the Agua Dulce community in the last Update, just one response was received. Since there was no obvious expression of community consensus as to whether to oppose or favor this amendment, the council voted at its meeting of May 10th to take no action.

AGUA DULCE AIR PARK: According to Mr. Barry Kirshner of Scottsdale, AZ, he will be purchasing the Agua Dulce Air Park. If all went according to plan, a

75 day escrow has already opened (effective May 10th). Currently an employee of Voit Development Company, a large land developer, Mr. Kirshner may choose to develop the property on his own, or in conjunction with Voit.

Both a pilot and a horseman, Mr. Kirshner envisions a fly-in, equestrian community. The Air Park's 102 acres will remain open to public use as a private-aviation airport. New amenities may be added, such as a club house containing a swimming pool, tennis courts, gym and snack bar/restaurant. An additional 80 acres, which are zoned A-1, will be developed into 5-acre home sites, under Barry's plan. It is unclear at this time whether he would then sell the parcels to homeowners wishing to build custom homes, or whether he would build homes on the lots. If the latter, he estimates that the homes would sell in the range of $800,000 each.

Please join us in a discussion with Barry at the council's meeting of May

24th. He is eager to share his vision with the Agua Dulce community, and to hear what we have to say.

EMAIL: Please remember that your comments, views and suggestions are valuable. You may contact the council through its website (AguaDulceCouncil@aol.com ), by fax to (661) 268-7325, or by mail at 33201 Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Box 8, Agua Dulce, CA 91350. We look forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards, DIANE TERITO, President AGUA DULCE TOWN COUNCIL

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