Ledford seeks help to annex land by airport

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

Bringing that land into Palmdale's borders may be essential to the city's ability to continue luring new companies to the community, particularly to U.S. Air Force Plant 42, Ledford said.

In January, Ledford and the City Council approved annexing 4,545 of the 17,500 acres Los Angeles owns south and east of the airport so Palmdale could provide financial incentives to airport-related businesses.

Specifically, Palmdale sought to annex the land in order to make good on a promise to provide up to $5.4 million in financial assistance to the aircraft maintenance and refurbishment company SR Technics America Ltd.

The move also would position the city to provide assistance to other flight-related firms, such as BAE SYSTEMS Flight Systems.

By June, negotiations with the airport department of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports, had reduced the size of the proposed annexation from 4,545 acres to 309 acres.

Now, LAWA officials prefer only the annexation of the actual footprint of SR Technics' 23-acre hangar, city officials told the Antelope Valley's representative on the county Board of Supervisors, Michael D. Antonovich of the 5th District.

In addition to city assistance, SR Technics was lured to Palmdale with $79 million in incentives from the state Trade and Commerce Department and $12.5 million in building improvements by LAWA.

In return for the financial assistance, the firm agreed to conduct business in Palmdale for a decade, pumping an estimated $4.4 billion into the regional economy.

Antonovich, along with nine other county representatives, visited Palmdale for his annual meeting to discuss the requests, concerns and plans of the City Council.

Among those concerns are the development of Palmdale Regional Airport, on the grounds of Air Force Plant 42, and the infrastructure that future passengers will need to reach the airport.

If Palmdale is prevented from fulfilling its pledge to SR Technics, a Swiss corporation, there will be repercussions when the city seeks to attract other firms to Plant 42, Ledford said.

"To me, this is critical," he said. "SR is the largest foreign investment in this state in 10 years. When we had an opportunity to get them, everybody was tripping over themselves to help them.

"Now that they're here, we can't seem to get over the issues to be able to make good on our commitments," the mayor said. "I find that is an inhibitor to our economic development here in the Antelope Valley.

"If we are going to bring the jobs up here, we need to be able to work through these issues and follow through," Ledford continued. "SR is our poster child; everybody is watching.

"Our performance will be judged based on the reality, not the fluff ... of this company actually being able to move up here, with all of the promises and commitments made good, and they open up and do business and be successful," he said.

"I think this is maybe one of the most critical issues that we're facing here in the Antelope Valley, and I hope we can get this issue resolved," Ledford said.

Antonovich offered no immediate solutions to the annexation matter, which will require the approval of the county's Local Agency Formation Commission to be accomplished.

"The annexation issue needs to be resolved if Palmdale Airport is going to get the additional work, the additional jobs and the additional construction," Ledford said.

That growth also will depend upon the city of L.A.'s willingness to use Palmdale Regional Airport as part of its solution to the problem of overcrowding at Los Angeles International Airport, Antonovich said.

"We're still pushing L.A. City to expand the Palmdale/Plant 42 and Ontario airports to meet the growth that ... already exists in this county," the supervisor said. "LAX is going to have approximately 35 million more passengers using that facility by the year 2015, and it's important that the Antelope Valley is part of the mitigation of LAX's over-crowdedness."

"But we also have to be working with the state to complete the 14 Freeway. That's vital, so that we have a transportation system in place to serve the passengers and families who will be utilizing the (Palmdale airport)," Antonovich said.

Both the Antelope Valley Freeway, and Highway 138 "have to be at the head of the table for widening," he said.

Los Angeles officials are under the impression they can solve traffic problems around LAX by building a special airport-traffic lane along Interstate 405 south of the Marina Freeway, Antonovich said.

"You and I both know the 405 is congested way, way, way beyond the Marina Freeway," often as far as the 101 Freeway near the Sepulveda Pass, he said. "That's why it's vital that the 14 is built out."

Those who favor expanding LAX and keeping the Palmdale and Ontario airports out of the mix are attempting to "brainwash" others into believing the two outlying facilities are too difficult to reach, the supervisor continued.

The fact is, residents of the San Fernando Valley can reach Palmdale airport quicker than they can reach LAX, he said. And only the outlying airports have Metrolink passenger-train access.

"When's the last time you took a train to LAX?" Antonovich asked, knowing that such service does not exist.

"SR Technics is the linchpin (to Palmdale airport's growth) now that they are beginning to provide service to Federal Express," he said. "We need to have a full publicrelations campaign so that the decisionmakers - (L.A.) Mayor (Richard) Riordan and others - know that Palmdale is one of the solutions."

An effort now under way to develop a campaign to promote Palmdale airport to passenger airline firms "will be very helpful," he said.

Antonovich questioned the state's wisdom in allowing road builders to add a high-occupancy vehicle lane to the AV Freeway in bits and pieces instead of in consecutive sections.

He also questioned the state's wisdom in approving the funding of a new "unneeded" interchange near a Riverside County casino while ignoring the problems faced by Antelope Valley commuters.

Antonovich suggested the county join forces with Palmdale and Lancaster to press Caltrans, the state department of transportation, to complete the missing sections that would give drivers three lanes on each side of the AV Freeway.

Even with the new carpool lanes, the freeway will be "totally inadequate" in light of projections that the Valley population will triple to 1 million by 2020, the mayor said.

Ledford, chairman of the North Los Angeles County Transportation Coalition, said the group - working with the county's Metropolitan Transportation Authority - has initiated a study that could bring a complete third traffic lane, that is not a carpool lane, to the attention of the California Transportation Commission.