Cities blast school board for JWA stance

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- Officials from both cities condemned the school board

for not joining them in endorsing a plan for limited expansion at John

Wayne Airport.

“I would have preferred that there would have been some dialogue with

us as to the rationale of our council’s support for the plan before the

board took action,” said Bob Burnham, city attorney for Newport Beach.

On Tuesday, the trustees decided to diverge from the two cities’

established support for the plan because they do not want to see any

future expansion at the airport.

Their resolution, however, does recommend extending the 1985

settlement agreement that allows 8.4 million annual passengers, 73 daily

flights in the noisiest class and restricts the times planes can fly. The

agreement is set to expire in 2005.

The resolution also opposes Measure W, which would allow for a park at

the closed Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro instead of an airport.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors will consider approving an

environmental report with the various expansion plans on Feb. 26.

Costa Mesa City Councilman Gary Monahan said the plan endorsed by both

cities is the result of delicate negotiations. He admonished the school

board for not considering the ramifications of its actions.

“To endorse a hard-line approach would put the county off and into a

position that no settlement agreement would be made and therefore

unlimited flights with no time restrictions would be the result,” Monahan

said.

The board had originally drafted a resolution that joined the cities

in endorsing the limited expansion plan.

But based on the testimony of four speakers who expressed concerns

about flaws in the county’s environmental report and the increased noise

and toxic air quality that would result from even limited expansion, the

board unanimously changed its course.

The report states that air-quality effects -- including a worst-case

scenario of increased lifetime risk of cancer -- would be reduced but

still remain significant under the limited expansion plan.

“It would be hypocritical of the school board to endorse the [limited

expansion plan] if it has unmitigated air-quality problems,” said Ann

Watt, a Santa Ana Heights resident who has been keeping the Harbor

Council PTA informed about her take on airport issues since an airport at

El Toro was initially approved in 1994.

Trustee Wendy Leece emphasized that the school board wanted to send a

powerful message that it has the best interest of its students at heart,

not political gamesmanship.

“We can’t be utilitarian,” Leece said. “We have to look at the

children who live underneath these flights, who will be breathing these

toxic air contaminants, and that does not justify the increase in flights

for [the airport] for economic reasons.”

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .