Costa Mesa sets airport stance

Paul Clinton

COSTA MESA -- On airport issues, the winds are shifting in the city.

The City Council softened its support this week for an airport at the

closed El Toro Marine base, backing off an earlier stance.

The council unanimously passed a resolution Monday endorsing a broader

regional approach to airport planning. The two-page statement called for

“a careful evaluation of opportunities for the expansion” of existing

facilities and “military facilities available as a result of base

closure” to shoulder future air traffic demands.

The council also advocated no expansion of John Wayne Airport.

Yet the panel deliberately left out any reference to El Toro, selected

for closure in 1993 by the Department of Defense, to stay out of the

often-heated dispute over the future of the airfield, Mayor Libby Cowan

said.

The resolution would also take a step toward “spreading the pain”

airports bring to communities, Cowan said.

“The thing that the resolution that we passed does is to get above the

fray,” Cowan said. “No community should be unduly burdened.”

The policy statement stopped short of endorsing Orange County’s plan

to build an airport at El Toro -- reversing an earlier council’s

position.

On Dec. 20 1999, a panel without council members Karen Robinson and

Chris Steel voted 4 to 1 to back an airport at El Toro that would serve

8.8 million annual passengers in 2005.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who cast the lone dissenting vote in the

earlier resolution, voted for Monday’s plan because it didn’t contain a

reference to El Toro.

Dixon disputes a county claim that an airport at El Toro, located at

the borders of Irvine and Lake Forest, is necessary to serve a growing

demand in South County.

“I do not support an airport at El Toro,” Dixon said. “I have not seen

it written anywhere that every region in every county needs an airport.”

Councilman Gary Monahan acknowledged that his city has not been

unified on the El Toro issue.

But that is changing, he said, adding that the catalyst was a South

County decision on Feb. 26 to revoke support for extending limits at John

Wayne Airport.

“As soon as they said that, they’re going to find out they just woke

Costa Mesa up,” Monahan said. “I think it’s time for us to step up to the

plate and get active.”

Monahan and Steel, the city’s representative on the Orange County

Regional Airport Authority, both said they back El Toro. Robinson did not

return calls for comment.

Hatched by El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon about two years ago, the

regional approach to airports calls on smaller niche airports to handle

any future increases in passenger demand, instead of adding to the burden

of Los Angeles International.

“Orange County must take its fair share of the responsibility,” Gordon

said. “Orange County must create answers for how it’s going to meet its

demand.”

Costa Mesa’s resolution did not mention LAX.

By passing the resolution, council members said they hoped to clarify

their city’s position on airport issues. Costa Mesa has offered a

striking contrast to its southeastern neighbor of Newport Beach, which

has fought hard for El Toro.

“They have pretty much let Newport Beach take the lead,” said Steve

Bromberg, a councilman from that city. “It would be nice if they took a

stronger position.”