Planners OK Airport, Peril Seen by Aviation Director

Pioneertown yesterday won county approval for its airport – but, warns the county aviation director, novice fliers better not try flying in or out of there.

Site approval for the 4,500-foot runway was granted by the Planning Commission after it received only two letters of protest from adjoining property owners.

Benton Lefton of California Golden Empire plans to establish the airport on 71 acres of land north of the intersection of Pioneertown Road and Skyline Ranch Road.

Wallace L. Robbins, county aviation director told the planners, “For the novice pilot it will be extremely dangerous to fly in and out of this proposed airport because of the rugged terrain around it and the gusty winds.”

The county aviation committee said, “we do not recommend this airport be included in the county master plan of airports at the time.”

The Planning Commission also corrected a slight oversight in a special airport subdivision for flying buffs next to Yucca Valley airport.

It seems Robert Potter found he had the only lot in the tract that had no access to the airport taxiway.

So the planners granted him a variance to build a hanger on a substandard lot in the tract on Warren Vista Avenue, south of Crestview Drive.

Potter wouldn’t have been so wound up in red tape had there been a house on the lot. It seems a hanger can be added, without variance, as an accessory to a house.

Potter’s house just didn’t happen to be on the lot.