State committee discusses El Toro

Susan McCormack

SANTA ANA -- Elected officials from two counties, aviation experts,

activists, academics and more convened Tuesday to do something virtually

unheard of in recent months: discuss the past and future of the El Toro

issue in a peaceful, organized fashion.

However, state Assemblywoman Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) managed

to incense Newport Beach airport supporters by suggesting that after John

Wayne Airport’s noise and size restrictions expire in 2005, it be

expanded to between 18 million and 24 million passengers a year to meet

the county’s air transportation needs.

“That pretty well sums up our worst fears,” said Newport Beach Mayor

Dennis O’Neil, who was not at the event. “Whether it is said or not, it’s

inevitable that John Wayne will grow if there is not an El Toro.”

The five-hour nonpartisan event at Rancho Santiago Community College

was hosted by Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), a member of the

state’s Select Committee on Long-term Planning for Commercial and General

Aviation Airport Capacity. Assembly members Scott Wildman (D-Glendale)

and Bates also attended the event, during which forces on both side of

the El Toro debate made short presentations and answered questions from

the committee.

Bates’ suggestion came after El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon said that

Southern California should have a “regional plan” for creating or

expanding airports because transportation problems in one county may

affect others. Gordon said that about 20% -- or 12 million -- of passengers that currently use Los Angeles International Airport are from

Orange County, and this number is expected to double by 2020.

Bates said John Wayne should be able to accommodate the projected

demand, including those passengers who currently use LAX.

When pressed by Correa, El Toro Reuse Planning Authority Chair Susan

Withrow agreed, saying, “I think [the needs] could be handled with

existing facilities.”

David Ellis, spokesman for the Airport Working Group, laughed at the

logic, saying that there’s no way John Wayne could serve as many

passengers as other large airports such as John F. Kennedy Airport in New

York, which serves 25 million passengers each year.

However, he said that Bates’ comments are a threat to pro-airport

forces because expanding John Wayne is not beyond the realm of

possibility if the proposed El Toro airport is derailed.

“If it isn’t El Toro, the pressure to expand John Wayne when the

settlement is up will increase,” Ellis said.

A key issue pro-airport forces discussed was the increasing demands

for all forms of transportation in the county. Officials from both the

Southern California Assn. of Governments and P&D; Aviation, the county’s

airport consultant, warned participants that the county’s population is

expected to increase by 22% by 2020 -- or from about 2.7 million to 3.2

million -- with South County experiencing the highest increase in growth

at 39%.

This growth is expected to create increased traffic in the air and on

land, said Chuck Smith, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and Anaheim

Mayor Tom Daly.

“If this El Toro opportunity is not seized ... there will be a

potential loss of control over our economic future,” Daly said, adding

that passengers and cargo companies will have to use other airports, thus

decreasing business and tourism growth in the county.

Supervisor Tom Wilson accused the Board of Supervisors of keeping

information from him and Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who both oppose an

airport built at El Toro.

Wilson said he’s had to be a “detective to ferret out information” as

to the board’s plan’s and warned that the county is moving “with our

blinders on.”