City, groups to target possible JWA lawsuit

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- City officials are optimistic that a meeting with

representatives of the Airport Working Group and Stop Polluting Our

Newport will create an alliance to extend flight restrictions at John

Wayne Airport.

One of the first jobs of the fledgling alliance will be a preemptive

strike to stop a lawsuit by airlines wanting to expand the airport.

City Manager Homer Bludau met last week with representatives of the

two groups to discuss extending the 1985 settlement agreement that limits

flights and expansion at John Wayne Airport. Since the Orange County

Board of Supervisors approved a plan earlier this year to extend the

settlement agreement, getting the approval of the two groups has loomed

as the next and most crucial step in extending the restrictions.

As signatories to the original flight cap deal, they must approve the

extension for it to be maintained.

“This was about opening up communication between the three groups,”

Bludau said. “We need to make sure that the communications between us are

the best they can be.”

Both groups have said they will support the extension, but this

support won’t be official until the parties sign off on the deal.

The original 1985 agreement puts an 8.4 million cap on the number of

passenger flights at the airport each year. It allowed the addition of

only 73 of the noisiest flights each year, and the addition of four cargo

flights and 14 flight gates.

Later, two more cargo flights were added. The plan approved by the

supervisors, which Newport Beach also backed, would allow the airport to

grow to 9.8 million passengers each year, and add 85 of the noisiest

flights, four cargo flights and 18 flight gates.

Since Measure W’s success at the polls March 5 dealt a blow to plans

to build an airport at El Toro, Newport Beach officials have pinned most

of their hopes on extending the settlement agreement as a way to insulate

residents from noise, pollution and the other nuisances posed by a

growing commercial airport at John Wayne.

However, the Airline Transport Assn. has threatened to sue to stop the

extension of the settlement agreement. In hopes of deflating such a

lawsuit before it’s even filed, the members of the new alliance are

considering approaching the Federal Aviation Administration to get its

input on details of the settlement agreement extension. The

administration governs many airport-related decisions and could be the

determining factor in whether a lawsuit by the airlines would be

successful.

“It isn’t signed yet, so negotiation is sure possible,” said Allan

Beek, a Stop Polluting Our Newport member who attended the meeting. “If

we go to the FAA before we make the final agreement, it could be the best

way to get a favorable response from the FAA.”

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .

QUESTION

PUSHING THE LIMITS

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