DesertBlog

Protect the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

An Orange County businessman wants to build a motorsports racetrack on 320 acres 1.5 miles from the California State Poppy Reserve in the Antelope Valley.  The racetrack would potentially host high performance race vehicles 365 days a year.  A Los Angeles County Planning Commission staff report presented at a hearing September 2 recommended approval of the project.

There will be another hearing at 9:00 am, December 2.  Please attend this hearing if at all possible. The majority of speakers at the September hearing were in favor of the racetrack.  If you cannot make the hearing, please write to the Planning Commission and tell them that you think wildflower preserves and motorsports parks don’t make good neighbors.

Address letters to:
Mr. Jodie Sackett
County of Los Angeles Department of Regional Planning
Room 1382
320 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
or email jsackett@planning.lacounty.gov
(if you are a Los Angeles County resident, please cc your supervisor; see http://bos.co.la.ca.us/ for supervisors’ names and addresses)

Here are some of the negative impacts that could be included in a letter:

1.  Sound will be clearly heard on Reserve hiking trails and in a wide area of Antelope Acres.

Hiking through field of wildflowers and listening to the drone of high performance racing engines are clearly incompatible experiences!

81% of the respondents to a survey of Poppy Reserve visitors indicated that their visits to the Reserve would be significantly decreased if a racetrack were built nearby.  44% indicated that they would never come again!

Fewer visitors will mean decreased revenue, revenue that is vital both for protection of the fragile wildflower fields and continuation of public recreational use.

These funds are particularly crucial during this time of fiscal crisis in the State of California.

2.  Zone change to industrial/ commercial will open the door to more damaging developments: this is completely incompatible with the rural nature of the area and an existing state park dedicated to hiking and nature.

3.  Existing property owners, who bought and built under existing zoning of agricultural and residential, will suffer from extreme noise and likely experience devaluation of their properties. Who wants to live near a racetrack?

4. Racetrack property includes important  Antelope Valley Prehistoric Sites. These sites indicate that Fairmont Butte was a center for both trade and tool making in the era before European contact. Development of the racetrack will greatly endanger these sites.

5. Race track will be an attractive nuisance, drawing additional illegal off-road activity to the area — causing severe damage to archeological sites and habitat east of Fairmont Butte, and increasing noise impacts to Reserve and local residents.

6.  Dust, air and light pollution will increase. Light pollution will negate use of the reserve for star parties for local astronomy groups and will likely have a significant detrimental impact on the primarily nocturnal desert ecosystem.  Numerous studies have shown that exposure to artificial lights can disrupt wildlife.

7. Wildlife corridors necessary to maintain ecological balance will be blocked.

8. The racetrack will destroy prime areas for wildflowers and other disappearing native plants.  Area proposed for this development includes part of the Fairmont-Antelope Buttes Significant Ecological Area (SEA No. 57)  which contains a sensitive area for birds of prey.

Visit the Save The Poppy Reserve website for more information.