Council endorses airport proposal

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The city officially endorsed the plan for an airport at the

closed El Toro Marine base, as proposed by the Orange County Regional

Airport Authority.

“The restrictions will not only protect South County, but our interests

as well,” said Councilman Joe Erickson. “It is our responsibility as part

of the county to take care of our air transportation needs.”

However, council members -- saying they could not predict the future of

air travel demands -- chose to leave out the specific number of annual

passengers the new airport would serve.

In a 4-1 vote, which comes two weeks after late-night discussions on the

issue, the council agreed to support the airport, with the following

conditions:

* The airport would be part of a two-airport system with El Toro and John

Wayne satisfying most of Orange County’s demand for air travel.

* The airport at El Toro would primarily serve domestic flights.

International service would be restricted to Canada, Mexico and Central

America.

* El Toro would have the same nighttime flight restrictions as John Wayne

Airport has now.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who cast the only dissenting vote, said there’s

still not enough information available about the proposed airport at El

Toro for the council to make an educated decision. She said the county

would never build an airport with all the restrictions that have been

proposed.

“All of those restrictions are a joke,” she said after the meeting.

However, Dixon did make it clear that she strongly opposes any plans to

expand John Wayne Airport. She told the council she would “fight any

expansions tooth and nail.”

Erickson made a similar proposal last year. But he requested restricting

the annual number of passengers at El Toro to 8.4 million -- the same

number as allowed under the John Wayne Airport settlement agreement.

The proposal died after council members voiced concerns that the demand

for the airport would exceed that amount. They feared the demand would

have to be met by an expanded John Wayne Airport, which the council

opposes.

At the meeting two weeks ago, the council considered supporting the

scaled-down proposal, which was made by Orange County Supervisor Cynthia

Coad and endorsed by the Orange County Regional Airport Authority.

It calls for an airport that could handle only 18 million passengers each

year, instead of the 24 million annual passengers in the county’s

existing plan.

A LEVEL FIELD?

Is a proposal for a scaled-down version of the El Toro airport, with

noise and nighttime equal to those in place at John Wayne Airport, a

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