Costa Mesa officials won’t oppose takeover

Lolita Harper

City leaders seem comfortable taking the usual backseat role to

Newport Beach regarding airport issues, saying on Friday they would

not oppose the neighbor’s bid to take control of John Wayne Airport.

Costa Mesa Mayor Gary Monahan said he would support Newport’s

attempt to take control of the only Orange County airport, saying it

would help in controlling its expansion.

“We don’t know much about it but we know that we work very well

with the county and very, very well with Newport Beach,” Monahan

said. “But if Newport Beach wants some support, I’m sure we would

give it to them.”

Both cities border John Wayne Airport and both heavily oppose

expansion of the transportation hub but only Newport Beach has

announced a campaign to take control of the airport from county

officials and place it in the capable hands of city leaders --Newport

Beach city leaders.

Newport Beach Mayor Steve Bromberg and Councilmen Tod Ridgeway and

John Heffernan drafted the proposal and a new committee will request

an audience with county leaders in hopes of sitting down and

analyzing how a transfer of control could be beneficial for both

Newport Beach and the county.

Costa Mesa city leaders seem to agree that shift in power would

benefit their coastal city as well. Councilman Chris Steel, who

considers airport issues his area of expertise, said the two cities

see eye-to-eye on this issue. Both would be negatively effected by a

larger airport at John Wayne and both are nervous about the entire

county -- including south county who became veritable enemies in the

fight over El Toro -- deciding the future of JWA.

Both Costa Mesa and Newport Beach proved in the voting booths that

they were opposed to the Great Park initiative, which essentially

blocked the former Marine Base from being built as an international

airport. While Costa Mesa officials are on record as supporting an

airport at El Toro, Newport Beach took their support one step further

by helping to finance the local Airport Working Group, which led the

pro-airport campaign.

Newport Beach also took the lead role in drafting the John Wayne

Airport Joint Powers Agreement, which put caps on the number and take

off times of flights at John Wayne. That agreement expires in 2015.

Costa Mesa leaders have since been criticized for allowing Newport

Beach to take the reins in all things regarding the airport. Costa

Mesa official contend their role in all negotiations has been

appropriate because of limited seats at the bargaining table or

taxpayer money being needed elsewhere.

In this case, Steel doesn’t mind letting Newport take care of

business.

“If Newport Beach wants to take control and limit expansion, that

is fine with me,” Steel said.