7-30-04 Read the arrogance of the California Aeronautics attacking the action of the LA County Planning Commission, The Board of Supervisors, and the community of any restriction of the Agua Dulce Airport.
He claims the Airport is as important that it must become county owned and allowed to expand forever no matter what the community wants.
Its the standard airport game once it starts it goes on forever and grows even it the neighbors complain.
After reading this nearly 40 year old letter I am convinced we need to kill this airport now to protect our communities.
CALIFORNIA AERONAUTICS DIVISION
August 30, 1966
Mr. Robert M. Garrick, Chairman Los Angeles County Aviation Advisory
Commission
1515 North Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90027.
Subject: Agua-Dulce Airport Problems
Gentlemen:
I am assuming that your assignment in aviation matters is much the same as ours, which. is to promote, protect, and develop aviation in your own jurisdiction, and with that thought in mind, would like to call your attention to a very serious hardship airport case in Los Angeles County.
Through an unfortunate series of incidents and poorly handled public relations problem, Agua Dulce Airport has come to be completely hamstrung in its future growth by your Los Angeles County Planning Commission, and I feel that you should be as seriously concerned as I am about the problem because of the tremendous failure of airports to survive in Los Angeles County and those that we have left are very precious indeed, and must be salvaged if at all possible.
It is pretty obvious that collectively we have taken your Board offer pretty rough road of acquisition in a short period of time and it would be unrealistic to expect your Board to take on yet another airport acquisition at this time. However I think with a little help from you and a realistic approach to the we can private enterprise functioning here until such time as public ownership becomes possible.
The conditions imposed by the Los Angeles County Planning Commission are so drastic as to completely prevent the economic continuation of this valuable site very much longer and your help is not only desirable but probably mandatory if we are to salvage it.
I am sure Mr. Taplin is familiar enough with the problem to enlighten you as to the specific imposed conditions which are causing the trouble, and I am sure, upon proper consideration of them. you will agree that it is simply not good economic sense to expect a man to provide a free public utility with this kind of synthetic and artificial set of limitations imposed upon him.
Actually, we are reasonably sure the imposition of such a set of restrictive conditions is Illegal and could be broken in court based upon previous legal precedent already established in other fields, wherein a local community attempts to force a man to do something that he simply, legally, cannot comply with.
It should be pretty obvious to anyone with a knowledge of aviation that you: cannot expect the owner to hold his population at-exactly 20-aircraft allowed to use the field, because obviously he cannot afford the manpower to enforce such a limitation to start with. Secondly, once you have created a public airport for public use, which you certainly have, and secured a permit for its legitimate operation, you then cannot, by an piece of law that I know of, prevent public from using it at there discretion and choosing to keep their airplanes there for as long as they like because it has been designated as a public airport. You- cannot. for instance, force a man to take off in bad weather or with a faulty airplane. You cannot, likewise, deny him landing permission in an emergency. It would be illegal withholding of public use when public use has already been granted.
In any event, I would like to ask for time on your October airport commission meeting to explore this problem, and to possibly. come. to some conclusion as to what kind of help your organization could offer to the problem. I will arrange to have the owner present at that time if it suits your convenience.
We appreciate any courtesies you may see fit to extend. Sincerely,
Clyde P. Barnett Director