School board plans review of JWA expansion

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- Now that the Orange County Board of Supervisors has

tentatively approved modest expansion of John Wayne Airport, the school

board is calling in its own experts to pressure officials to limit growth

as much as possible.

On Tuesday, the supervisors approved an environmental analysis of the

proposed expansion and endorsed Scenario 1, a plan supported by Newport

Beach that allows for a limited expansion of the airport when the present

flight restrictions expire in 2005.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustees had passed a resolution

against any future airport expansion, saying they are concerned about an

increase in noise and toxic air quality that could result.

At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Supt. Robert Barbot responded

to news of the supervisors’ decision by saying the district will take a

rigid stand against the consequences of the airport’s expansion.

“There has to be mitigation or else [the county] has to prove that

we’re wrong,” Barbot said. “They’re not done with [the environmental

analysis] until we say it’s done.”

Depending on what issues the district decides are a priority to

tackle, it will either use its own environmental experts or hire outside

consultants to respond to the county’s analysis.

Supervisor Jim Silva, who represents all of the school district except

for Newport Coast, said although he is sympathetic to the district’s

concerns it will be up to the Federal Aviation Administration to

ultimately decide the future of expansion at John Wayne Airport.

“I’m also a parent, and I know how important education is to the

children, so we would support everything we can to mitigate their

concerns,” Silva said. “I really can’t speak for the FAA.”

Silva said the supervisors have asked their staffs to meet with FAA

officials and the airlines to try to work out an agreement with Scenario

1 as the starting point. During these negotiations, some of the ways to

reduce the adverse effects will be hammered out, he added.

“Until we sit down at the conference table, everything is basically on

the table,” Silva said, adding that would happen sometime within the next

three months.

The supervisor also said he would be willing to meeting with school

district officials to discuss their concerns.