Story by Leon Worden of SCV News.
Supervisor Michael Antonovich is asking his fellow supervisors to hold a decision that could move a gang prevention program into the old oil town of Mentryville.
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Antonovich’s request to move the agenda item to June 30 appears in a supplemental agenda, which came out after the supervisors’ regular agenda for Tuesday’s meeting was published.
Antonovich’s staff has coordinated with the West Ranch Town Council to hold a public hearing on the gang-prevention program June 3. That meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Stevenson Ranch Library Community Room.
If approved by the supervisors, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority – the agency that owns and manages Mentryville – would be authorized and funded $250,000 to move a program for court-referred “at risk” youth from all over Los Angeles County into Mentryville’s Johnson Park.
Johnson Park is located halfway up the trail in Mentryville, between the historic town buildings and the capped-off oil wells at the back of the canyon that gave rise to California’s oil industry.
The Johnson Park location “is not in a sensitive environment, and there are no cumulative impacts, unusual circumstances, or other limiting factors” that would require full-blown environmental review, according to a report to the supervisors from Russ Guiney, director of the county’s parks department.
However, Mentryville, including Johnson Park, is California Historical Landmark No. 516-2. The landmark designation includes the entire Mentryville area, from the buildings to the oil wells – not just the little town at the base of the canyon, according to an official with the California Office for Historic Preservation.
The OHP official was unaware of the MRCA’s at-risk youth program proposal when reached for comment.
The county’s 1992 park bond measure included $12 million for gang prevention programs, of which $3 million is earmarked for the MRCA. Previously, the MRCA was running a gang prevention program in East Canyon west of Interstate 5, southwest of Newhall in the Santa Clarita Woodlands area – which is not a state historical landmark, according to Guiney’s report.
The East Canyon program would move to Mentryville, if approved.
The project calls for “renovation of existing facilities and construction of an overnight camping facility for vocational training, recreation, and education of at-risk youth,” Guiney’s report.
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