Pride in airport deal is deserved

In his Jan. 26 The Bell Curve about John Heffernan, Joseph N. Bell referred to the 2002 John Wayne Airport Settlement Agreement amendments as a “dismal result” for which the “city congratulated itself.”

Bell’s description is simply wrong, and he does a disservice to every Newport Beach and Costa Mesa resident when he fails to explain that the 2002 amendments preserved the settlement agreement -- the primary vehicle by which the city has some control over the impacts of John Wayne Airport. To make matters worse, the city attorney and I told Bell about the legal, political and practical limits in a two-hour meeting some time before the city, Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Airport Working Group approved the 2002 amendments.

The 2002 amendments did, as Bell says, “authorize more flights, more passengers and more gates” at John Wayne.

What Bell fails to mention is that without the 2002 amendments the city, Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Airport Working Group would now have no say in the number of flights, passengers and gates because the settlement agreement would have expired. Bell also failed to tell readers that the residents and elected leaders of Tustin, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Orange and Santa Ana -- the other communities affected by John Wayne’s operations -- overwhelmingly supported the 2002 amendments.

The 2002 amendments ensured that the flight and service level restrictions in the John Wayne Airport Settlement Agreement remain in effect at least until Jan. 1, 2016, and provisions related to the curfew remain in effect until at least Jan. 1, 2021. The Federal Aviation Administration letter confirming the validity of the 2002 amendments -- a precondition to approval by the city, Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Airport Working Group -- is a very important insurance policy and a precedent for future amendments.

Bell knows, or should know, that the city of Newport Beach has never had the legal authority to adopt ordinances or resolutions that regulate airport noise or operations. When the settlement agreement was first approved in 1985, only the airport proprietor had the legal authority to adopt regulations restricting flights, passengers and aircraft operations -- and the settlement agreement was and is unique in terms of airport noise-control measures.

Bell should also know that, since 1990 with the passage of the Airport Noise and Capacity Act, the county was basically deprived of the authority to adopt regulations such as those found in the settlement agreement. The city, county and the Airport Working Group worked very hard to ensure that the settlement agreement was “grandfathered” by the airport noise act and to provide for amendments of the settlement agreement in the future so long as there was no adverse effect on airport safety or airport capacity.

Now you can see why the city, Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Airport Working Group insisted on receipt of a letter from the FAA confirming the validity of the 2002 amendments.

The city of Newport Beach has spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours over the past 30 years to minimize the effect of John Wayne Airport on our residents’ quality of life. We have had the good fortune to work with, and receive support from, Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Airport Working Group, and the county has been a good airport neighbor.

Those in the know consider John Wayne Airport to be the most noise-regulated airport in the nation and probably the world, and I think everyone in Newport Beach should be proud of our efforts in that regard.

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Homer Bludau is the city manager of Newport Beach.