Supervisors approve airport expansion report

Alicia Robinson

Airport officials will move forward with detailed design and

architectural plans for a new passenger terminal and other facility

expansions now that the Orange County Board of Supervisors has

approved an environmental report for the project.

The board on Tuesday approved the report, which was a supplement

to one approved in 2002 that addressed the effects of expanding the

airport. The supplemental report discussed logistics and short-term

effects of construction of the expansion.

“It’s a very necessary step, but a step within the final

[environmental report] that was approved back in 2002,” John Wayne

Airport spokesman Justin McCusker said. “The next step now would be

detailed architectural and engineering work.”

In May, the airport opened three new gates in a temporary terminal

to handle short commuter flights. A second temporary terminal is set

to open before Thanksgiving, and both will be removed in three to

five years when new permanent facilities are completed.

The construction of a permanent, three-level, 320,000-square-foot

terminal, expected to handle 35% of future airport traffic, will add

six gates, increasing the number of gates from 14 to 20. A

multi-level parking facility will add up to 3,200 parking spaces.

The expansion project also includes an extension on the north side

of the existing terminal to add passenger boarding and departure

areas, a third right-turn lane from Campus Drive to Bristol Street

and expansion or relocation of various airfield facilities.

Expansion will help the airport deal with increasing passenger

loads that followed the lifting of the cap, which went from 8.4

million passengers a year to 10.3 million passengers in 2003, and it

will increase in 2011 to 10.8 million passengers a year.

McCusker said he’s not sure when airport officials will seek bids

for architectural work, and it’s too early to place a time frame on

construction activities.

Supervisors unanimously approved the supplemental report.

“It’ll be good for the overall county,” Orange County Supervisor

Jim Silva said. “That means additional passengers can fly out of

Orange County.”

While he won’t have a part in any future negotiations on airport

capacity, Silva said he wants this construction to be the last.

“I will not be on the board if there’s any additional increases in

capacity, but I sure hope it is the end of it,” said Silva, whose

term on the board ends in 2007. “I don’t want to see any more

passengers at John Wayne.”