Air Park Faces an Advisory Vote : Aviation: County wants to gauge opinions on a takeover of the remote facility. Many residents want it shut down or kept relatively undeveloped.

AGUA DULCE —  Tuesday’s ballot provides the latest forum for a decades-long dispute over the fate of the Agua Dulce Air Park.

Residents, pilots and government officials each have different ideas for the 36-year-old facility, which is up for sale by its private owner.

The advisory ballot measure, which is non-binding but provides information for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, asks residents if they favor a scaled-down, county-operated airport. The proposal calls for the county to own about 70 acres of the 208-acre property.

County officials want a general aviation facility in the ever-growing Santa Clarita Valley, but many of Agua Dulce’s 2,100 residents want the air park to either shut down or, at least, remain a small facility surrounded by undeveloped, rural land.

Pilots say a county buyout would keep the airport from closing and being turned into development property, but those living nearby fear county ownership would bring more planes, traffic and noise.

“Without the air park, we’re in such a vulnerable position out here,” said Stewart Aleshire, a resident who supports county ownership. “We can be so easily isolated.”

The air park has been controversial since it was built in 1959 for the use of three businessmen, who later tried to expand it. The city of Los Angeles leased the facility from 1968 to 1978, but backed off plans to use it as an auxiliary to Van Nuys Airport because of community opposition.