Anti-El Toro group supports JWA flight cap extensions

Paul Clinton

JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- South County leaders are now supporting the

extension of flight caps here, a shift from a position they took earlier

this year.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority passed a resolution Monday vowing

to support the “continuation of existing flight limits” at the airport.

In February, the planning authority passed a resolution saying it

would fight Newport Beach’s bid to extend the 1985 Settlement Agreement

past 2005.

The settlement agreement imposed an 8.4-million annual passenger cap,

a limit on the number of daily departures and other restrictions. The

nighttime curfew was in place at the time of the deal.

Members of the planning authority, a coalition of 10 cities fighting

the county’s airport plan for the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air

Station, said the Monday policy shift was meant to clarify their stance.

On Feb. 26, the authority’s board approved a resolution opposing the

extension of flight caps, but not the curfew. At the time, members said

they were frustrated with Newport Beach’s aggressive support of an

airport at El Toro.

“That was a confusing position,” Planning Board Chairman Allan

Songstad said about the earlier stance. “It’s essentially a consistent

position. . . . This is not a novel concept to [the authority], despite

what the pro-airport crowd says.”

Airport backers immediately criticized the group for flip-flopping.

“They’re trying to curry the favor of Newport Beach,” said Bruce

Nestande, an El Toro airport booster. “Politically, they’ve made a bad

mistake. They’re on record as wanting to expand John Wayne.”

Also in February, authority members said they would lobby federal and

state officials to defeat the settlement extension.

Newport Beach and two groups in the city -- the Airport Working Group

and Stop Polluting Our Newport -- have begun work with Orange County

officials to extend the 1985 agreement.

City officials have proposed a deal that would offer modest increases

in the number of annual passengers and daily departures per year at the

airport.