Vote on SOS Closings Delayed

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on Monday postponed for the second time a vote on whether to shut down Space Ordnance Systems’ two manufacturing plants in the Santa Clarita Valley, rescheduling the vote for May 10.

A majority of the commission’s members said they favor revoking the zoning permits for the company’s Mint and Sand Canyon plants. But the vote was delayed on the advice of the panel’s attorney, who said the commission might be breeching SOS’s constitutional guarantee of due process because the company did not have an opportunity to respond to the proposal.

During a three-hour hearing, about a dozen residents living near the SOS plants accused the company of endangering their safety with the storage of 1,500 drums of explosive wastes. The commissioners said they could not stay around to hear from opponents of the revocation, however, because of other commitments.