County dismisses airlines’ JWA stance

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Orange County planners have dismissed a letter from

an influential trade group that called for the elimination of the flight

restrictions at John Wayne Airport.

In a report released Thursday, the trade group’s comments were deemed

to be “a misunderstanding of the . . . legal status, effects and

consequences” of the 1985 settlement agreement that led to the county

putting the restrictions in place.

The county published its response to the trade group letter along with

answers to 24 others that were received as part of the public review of

the county’s environmental analysis of three proposed scenarios to extend

the restrictions past 2005.

The response will be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors, which is

expected to address the issue at its Feb. 26 meeting.

An official with the Air Transport Group, in a Jan. 7 letter, derided

the county’s environmental analysis as “fundamentally flawed.”

The association, an influential lobby of the airline industry, is

lobbying for the elimination of the airport’s cap on annual passengers,

limits on the number of daily flights and other restrictions.

“The first step is the elimination of the artificial restraints on the

system,” association spokesman Roger Cohen said. “It’s the first step

toward solving the capacity issue.”

The group has said the county cannot unilaterally extend the

restrictions, which were put in place after the 1985 deal, past 2005. The

group also has said the county must complete an exhaustive review and

apply to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Since the creation of a 1990 federal law known as the Airport Noise

and Capacity Act, local agencies and airports cannot impose any

restrictions on airports because it infringes on interstate commerce.

However, John Wayne was granted an exception to that law, because its

flight restrictions were in place beforehand. They were, in effect,

“grandfathered” in as permissible.

Costa Mesa and the Airport Working Group, a Newport Beach-based band

of activists, also submitted letters to the county.

The working group, one of four parties to the 1985 deal, submitted

comments supporting a 20-year extension of the deal.

Under a scenario proposed by Newport Beach, the airport would be

allowed to grow by another 1.4 million annual passengers, from the

current cap of 8.4 million, and by 12 of the noisiest flights, from the

current limit of 73.

That scenario, the smallest expansion, would offer a five- to 10-year

extension, depending on the restriction.

The group’s co-founder, Barbara Lichman, who drafted the letter, said

she hoped the city could secure the best possible extension from the

supervisors.

“It’s the desired end result,” Lichman said. “If the deal as it turns

out isn’t satisfactory to our board, we won’t endorse it.”

For the settlement to be extended, the county, city, working group and

the environmental group Stop Polluting Our Newport must agree.

Newport Beach leaders have said the deal on the table is an attempt to

reach a compromise between groups with a variety of interests.

“The longer it goes out [in time], the bigger John Wayne Airport would

have to become,” City Manager Homer Bludau said. “It’s a sliding scale.”

In Costa Mesa’s letter, city leaders described their concerns about

the potential increase of noise for eastern Costa Mesa homes under the

flight path, City Manager Allan Roeder said.

The city’s associate planner, Claire Nguyen, in a Jan. 7 letter, also

said the city is concerned about a potential increase in demand for its

police services. City police cars patrol the airport’s western zone.

“They were fairly minor [concerns],” Roeder said. “We didn’t feel like

there were any fatal flaws” in the environmental report.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .