Mayor pushes to renew airport flight limits

Andrew Glazer

NEWPORT BEACH -- Mayor John Noyes on Friday said he will urge the Orange

County Board of Supervisors to extend flight restrictions at John Wayne

Airport beyond 2005, when they are scheduled to expire.

“Honestly, I don’t exactly know how,” he said Friday, after releasing a

two-page statement opposing expansions to John Wayne Airport and

supporting the county’s plans for a new commercial airport at El Toro.

“As we get our nose in the tent and start dealing with county staff and

the supervisors, we’ll start to figure it out.”

But it may not be so easy, or legal, for the county to extend the

settlement agreement it made with John Wayne activists in 1985. Federal

laws passed since then prohibit regional airport restrictions --

including the nighttime flight curfew and limits on certain types of

aircraft -- that are imposed on John Wayne Airport.

Noyes said City Atty. Bob Burnham, who helped negotiate the 1985

settlement, said it would be possible to extend the restrictions. Burnham

could not be reached for comment.

“It’s going to take more than just a request to get these extensions,”

said Supervisor Tom Wilson, who represents Newport Beach and South County

cities. “It may be one of the steps, but there are many legal

regulations.”

Wilson said he would, however, support extending limitations to flights

at John Wayne Airport.

“I’m not sure what I can do,” he said. “But I will certainly be in their

corner. I told the mayor it’s best to start today, because there may be

some bumps in the road.”

Opponents of the proposed El Toro airport said they also would continue

opposing expansions to John Wayne, despite Noyes’ support for the

proposed South County airport.

“We don’t think there’s a demand for more flights out of Orange County,”

said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for a coalition of South County cities.

“So we’re vociferously opposed to an airport at El Toro and to expanding

John Wayne.”