4-4-04 The Bird's Eye View by Ron Bird
Barry Kirschner, the purported owner of the Agua Dulce Airpark, has lived in Agua Dulce for three years and for three years Agua Dulce has listened to his lies and tales of wanting to “help” the community. He asked some residents what would be nice to have in Agua Dulce and came up with soccer fields, a swimming pool and some other recreational facilities. I'd like those things in my community. He also reassured the residents that he had no plans to expand the airport traffic and wanted to keep the Airpark a small quiet rural airport. Unfortunately, his actions have not matched his words.
To attract more planes and business Barry has very cheap gas - $1.99 vs the average local price of $2.74 (source airnav.com). Fox Field in Lancaster charges $2.65 and Whiteman Airport in Pacoima charges $2.78 for this same 100LL aviation fuel. If a local Agua Dulce gas station charged a cheap $1.45 (a similar discount), can you imagine how many commuters would be getting off at the Agua Dulce Canyon exit, fill up and continuing to Sierra Highway on their way to Palmdale?
And people wonder why air traffic at the airpark has dramatically increased and it is only going to get worse.
Barry claims that his low fuel prices are to attract potential clients for his yet unapproved air raunch housing complex. He claims that his airport is for local pilots, yet airnav.com states that the vast majority of the air traffic at the Agua Dulce Airpark comes from transitional traffic (planes based at other airports). He also claims this transitional traffic will decrease when his housing complex is built.
Why then is so much construction occurring at the airport? A long row of Kentucky bluegrass style hanger barns are currently under construction. A construction worker said that he's over at the airport building a new “runway”. This is either the shortest and widest “runway” that I have ever seen or it is a very large parking area for additional airplanes and helicopters . How many planes does Barry want to have room for - 100, 200 or more?
Maybe we should just rename our town “Agua Nuys” right now. Who else do you know in this area that cultivates 10 acres of Kentucky bluegrass (with more being added each year) from precious well water, then turns around and paves a large chunk of his most permeable land over, so the rainwater will just run away?
Who else do you know who cares so much about his community that he builds a beautiful soccer fields for our children? So what if it's in the runway protection zone, which is the most dangerous portion of an airport with the exception of the runway. Heck, until Barry came along, I used to let my kids play soccer in the median of Highway 14. He's got over 400 acres of land and had to pick the riskiest acreage for our kids. Well, at least the fire hazard has been reduced when the next plane crashes there.
Who else would want to place his other recreation facilities (swimming pool, health club, etc.) on land next to the runway? These are areas that have the potential for large numbers of adults and children. California airport land use guidelines are very clear on this subject. Only a maximum of 80-100 people are permitted per acre on land located within 750 feet of the runway.
Why would Barry do all of this for “the community”? It's a simple answer, it has northing to due with the community, but is to maximize his income and, to maximize his airparks future monetary value by maximizing the number of outsiders using the airport, resort and motel he plans to build. He also plans to build the maximum number of air estates that he can place on his property.
This will continue to maximize how much water his airpark is drawing from the water table, which is already insufficient for the existing residents that depend on it.
Now you might think that Barry is a nice guy, because he does seem to be. I think that he really seems to be in the manure business; because his actions do not match his words and believe me his manure is pilled high.
Maybe I'm wrong about him. If I am wrong about him, he sure is investing a lot of money in a “small-community” airport. If he is investing all of this money in a small community venture, it seems logical to me this venture is destined to fail. It will fail because it lacks the old “economy of scale”. What happens then? Simple, the venture gets sold to a bigger multi-millionaire who has more business sense and will ensure an even larger “economy of scale” will turn a handsome profit.
At whose expense? YOURS! It will be constant airplane noise, your local Disneyland. Although the current airport noise bothers most of the community, some people are not bothered by it. Many of the non-complainers are members of the aviation community and the Chamber of Commerce.
I grew up on a quiet dairy farm with lots of cow manure. Most people here would fight tooth and nail with their neighbor, if he bought 50 head of cattle. I would feel like I'd gone back to my childhood farm and would breath deeply with a smile each morning and not complain. If my neighbor bought 1,000 cows, then even my nose would curl with disgust (ever drive by that cattle factory right off of I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley?).
Airport noise is just like that - many don't want any, many find a little okay, some find a lot okay, but none of us want to live under the Van Nuys (Noise) flight path.
But, if you think that this is just a bunch of manure and someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, then stand up with me and fight Barry every step of the way.
If you like Kentucky bluegrass, Kentucky fences, Kentucky barns, lots of air traffic, outsiders, and noise, then support Barry and our town's new name will be Van Noise Dulce, because the Agua is gone from Agua Dulce but the Noise is here.