District rejects JWA expansion plans

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- An impassioned resident persuaded the school board

Tuesday to veer away from its attempt to present a united front with

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa in endorsing an expansion option for John

Wayne Airport.

Greg Carroll, a Santa Ana Heights resident, persuaded all seven

trustees that they should not even support a fairly restrictive expansion

option. The board unanimously passed a resolution to only extend a 1985

settlement agreement that allows 8.4 million annual passengers and 73

daily flights in the noisiest class, as well as restricts the times

planes can fly. The agreement is set to expire in 2005.

“I’m thrilled. This is the first step in a long process,” Carroll

said.

The county Board of Supervisors approved a draft environmental report

in November that includes a variety of scenarios to expand the airport.

The school board was set to endorse a scenario that calls for four

more flight gates, 1.4 million additional passengers per year and 12 more

of the noisiest flights.

Carroll maintains the report is a hastily prepared and inaccurate

document that omits negative effects of the various scenarios.

After hearing Carroll’s testimony and some soul searching, the school

board decided to forge its own path and focus on its desire for no

expansion at the airport.

“We are concerned about any changes being made in the future of John

Wayne Airport,” trustee Dana Black said. “It’s not just pollution, but

safety, noise and quality of life.”

The resolution also declares the board’s opposition to the anti-El

Toro Measure W because of its concern over adverse effects of lost

revenue for the schools.

If the measure fails and an airport is ultimately built at the El Toro

base, it is expected to ease air traffic from John Wayne Airport.

“As I see it, there are no dollars within Measure W to build a Great

Park, so how is it going to be built without taxation?” trustee Judy

Franco asked. “If you look at how much it costs to maintain Balboa and

Golden Gate parks, it’s astronomical.”