COMMENTARY ON AIR TRANSPORTATION : Cities Can Help Voice Local Aviation Needs at Regional Level : Cooperation among neighbors is crucial when planning for and expanding airport facilities.

In the last decade, Southern California has seen a tremendous growth in the number of new residents and businesses. Orange County alone averages more than 48,000 births each year. With this growth has come a significant increase in the demand for services, including transportation.

Although most public attention has been focused on our overburdened streets and highways, the challenges presented by a rapidly growing demand for air travel have moved to the top of Orange County’s transportation agenda. The future requires a better coordination between airports and ground transportation in conjunction with the application of new technology, such as the high-speed train and tilt-rotor aviation.

As Southern California continues to grow, the traditional approach of cities and counties setting their own priorities in isolation and discounting the need to participate with their neighbors is quickly dissolving as resources and tax revenue decline and the needs of the community change. Strict adherence to traditional boundaries diminish as regional solutions are required to meet increasing demands. This, however, is not to say that local participation will decline; it will always remain a vital part of the decision-making process.

By its very nature, commercial aviation in this country frequently involves diverse and competing interests, each of which must be recognized and offered a balanced representation in decisions relating to airport development and use. The alternatives and solutions must be identified carefully, if we are to avoid simply aggravating the fine balance between regional transportation and local control.

Orange County continues to take proactive steps to improve transportation. It has approved several tollway projects and improved efficiency, planning and project implementation by creating the Orange County Transportation Authority.

In addition, more than 346,000 Orange County residents voted to pass Measure M, which provides $3 billion over 20 years for freeway, street, road and mass-transit improvements and affirms the public’s desire to improve transportation alternatives on a regional basis.

Our success locally to increase capacity at John Wayne Airport was the direct result of hard work and cooperation among local parties. This effort included cities and community groups that are closest to the issues and which have the power to resolve them. It did not involve the intervention of a geographically and politically distant state or federal agency. To preserve local control and avoid intervention, we must continue to ensure that Southern California needs are addressed locally.

Our achievements at John Wayne Airport are impressive. They were possible because the Board of Supervisors has been able to exercise its discretion to appropriately regulate airport noise and work with the various interest groups to reach common goals.

The improvement project at John Wayne Airport not only increased capacity, but provided new infrastructure and transportation improvements.

Even with this progress, the region by 2010 will fall short of meeting the public’s air travel needs by an estimated 15 million passengers a year. The size and facilities at John Wayne Airport preclude its ability to meet this need, or the increasing demand for international travel. The shortfall is why planning and project implementation are required now on a regional basis. We must regionally improve capacity at existing airports, study new technology (including the high-speed train and tilt-rotor aviation to augment short-haul demand) and, as appropriate, locate and develop new facilities to provide more flights and international service for the region.

The county has established the Orange County Regional Airport Task Force, with representation from the Orange County Division, League of California Cities, to serve as the supervisors’ focal point for aviation planning. Though a suitable site to initiate master planning of a new airport is not available within Orange County, exciting alternatives are close at hand. The Defense Department has announced closure of Norton and George Air Force bases in San Bernardino County and several airports in Southern California will begin expansion projects within the next few years.

Locally, El Toro continues to be a topic of discussion. But the idea of joint use is neither practical nor compatible with the Marine Corps mission. The recent events of Desert Storm demonstrate the importance of the base to our national defense.

To ensure local interests are represented, the County Board of Supervisors has recently joined the Southern California Regional Airport Authority (SCRAA). The authority includes representatives from San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Riverside counties, as well as from the city of Los Angeles. Its primary purpose is to coordinate aviation issues on a regional basis to meet air passenger demand.

Aviation continues to be an important local issue for the businesses and residents of Orange County that depend on air transportation, and for the various communities impacted by aircraft noise. It is through participation in SCRAA that Orange County will speak with one voice and enable the Board of Supervisors to serve as the conduit for communication between regional interests and the local community.

The best approach to many of the regional issues, including aviation, that face counties and cities requires cooperation with our neighbors--and creative solutions on a regional basis. Regional benefits have already been attained through such joint ventures as the Santa Ana River Mainstream project and the Four-County Rail Plan.

Without question, the next few years will bring many hard decisions regarding airport expansion projects and the siting of a new airport in Southern California. Our best hope for timely action rests on working with our neighboring cities and counties to identify, plan and provide sufficient airport facilities that benefit Orange County and the region.