Airlines pose problem to JWA settlement extension

Paul Clinton

JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- An influential airline trade group has

criticized plans to extend the airport’s flight restrictions, potentially

grounding Newport Beach efforts to limit the number of airplanes buzzing

through its skies.

In a letter sent to the airport Monday, officials with the Air

Transport Assn. called the county’s environmental analysis of proposals

to extend the airport’s flight restrictions “fundamentally flawed.”

The city of Newport Beach had been working to nail down a deal before

voters head to the polls March 5 to vote on Measure W, the Great Park

initiative. The passage of that initiative could raise thornier questions

about how the county would handle anticipated spikes in demand for more

air capacity.

“We’re trying to avoid that,” Newport Beach Councilman Dennis O’Neil

said. “We believe it’s important to have this done before the election

because then you don’t have to deal with the what-ifs that come out of”

the initiative.

The letter, from Katherine B. Andrus, was sent on the final day of the

public comment period for Orange County’s environmental report on the

project.

The transport association, which had previously remained mum on the

subject, is the lobbying group and mouthpiece for the airline industry.

While acknowledging she had not performed a thorough analysis of

Orange County’s report, Andrus said there are two problems with the

document, which was released in November.

Andrus questioned whether the 1985 settlement agreement could be

legally extended past 2005, when it expires. She also criticized the

document for failing to discuss changes in federal law that could force

further review and maybe even an exhaustive appeal to the Federal

Aviation Administration.

A 1990 federal law, known as the Airport Noise and Capacity Act,

changed the way airports operate by prohibiting local entities from

imposing nighttime curfews and other flight restrictions.

Airports must apply to the FAA, via a Part 161 study, for any restrictions. Since the settlement deal was put into place before the new

law, it was exempted in 1990. Andrus said that exception would end with

the agreement.

“Because the grandfathered restrictions expire,” Andrus wrote, “any

attempt to extend them past December 31, 2005, would constitute new

restrictions subject to the stringent requirements of Part 161.”

City leaders working to extend the deal disagreed with the contention.

Newport Beach Councilman Gary Proctor also said the critique was out of

bounds because the county’s report analyzes only the effects of a project

on the surrounding communities.

“It’s an inappropriate criticism,” Proctor said. “That’s a legal

issue, and we disagree.”

Airport officials are now readying the environmental report for the

county’s Board of Supervisors. The supervisors would need to certify it

before picking one of three possible expansion scenarios for the airport.

Newport Beach is pitching a plan to moderately expand the airport by

adding four flight gates, 12 additional flights in the noisiest category

and another 1.4 million annual passengers. The other two plans would add

far more flights.

The 1985 deal imposed a cap of 8.4 million annual passengers and 73 of

the noisiest flights. The county, by ordinance, imposed a curfew at the

airport before 1985.

Keeping the restrictions has emerged as the single biggest issue for

city leaders and the single largest concern for residents who live with

the daily irritation of passing jets.

Airport spokeswoman Ann McCarley said she could not address Andrus’

letter but said it would be taken into account when the airport responds

to all public comments later this month.

“I can’t really comment on that,” McCarley said. “We’re going to look

at all the comments we’ll be receiving.”

To extend the settlement deal, the county, city, the Airport Working

Group and Stop Polluting Our Newport would have to agree on the details.

They were all parties in the series of lawsuits spearheaded by the

working group in the late 1970s that resulted in the 1985 deal.

Some officials said the airlines would also need to agree to any deal.

“It’s not as simple as the city of Newport Beach adding it to their

settlement,” said County Airport Commissioner David Markley. “The

airlines are going to have to be brought into it and going to have to

concur.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .