Airport group says no thanks to city’s money

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- The Airport Working Group is returning the check.

In a May 25 letter to Costa Mesa, the Newport Beach group said it

would return a $15,000 grant from the Costa Mesa City Council to pay for

an information campaign in the city aimed at communicating the importance

of extending flight restrictions at John Wayne Airport.

The council approved the funding, which was requested by the group, at

its May 7 meeting.

But the approval came with three caveats:

* The working group had to hold informational meetings in Costa Mesa;

* It had to discuss the dangers of expansion of John Wayne Airport;

* It had to refrain from publicly supporting an airport at the closed

El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The third stipulation, in particular, ruffled feathers at the working

group, an aggressive proponent of a commercial airport at El Toro since

the base was tapped for closure in 1993.

“The conditions placed upon the grant are unacceptable and we

therefore decline to accept it,” the group’s president, Tom Naughton,

wrote in the letter.

Naughton also criticized the council for “a profound lack of

understanding of the interrelationship between [John Wayne] and El Toro.”

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who had not seen the letter, said

she was stunned by the group’s decision. Dixon, who has said publicly she

does not support an airport at El Toro, said she would not have agreed to

fund the group without the ban on pro-El Toro commentary.

“I can’t imagine spending taxpayers’ dollars to lobby our citizens for

an El Toro airport,” Dixon said.

But Naughton and other group members said it was imperative to discuss

the need for an airport at El Toro along with the future of John Wayne.

Newport Beach and Orange County have begun environmental review of an

extension of the flight restrictions, in an altered form, at John Wayne.

Newport Beach also has agreed to add four gates and 12 more daily

departures in exchange for a 20-year extension of the mandatory nighttime

curfew.

If El Toro is not built, group members say, John Wayne will be forced

to expand even further. Group spokesman Dave Ellis said the two issues

can’t be separated.

“It’s like hot dogs and a ballgame,” Ellis said. “You can’t talk about

one without the other.”

Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan said he would try to revive the

grant by lifting the ban on support of El Toro.

He also criticized his colleagues who have pushed to keep El Toro out

of the discussion.

“It’s naive,” Monahan said. “If you won’t let [the working group]

support El Toro, that’s like laying out a red carpet to expand John

Wayne.”