Supervisors get on board airport cap extension

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- City airport activists won their second victory in a

week Tuesday as the Orange County Board of Supervisors agreed to help

them extend flight caps at John Wayne Airport.

The supervisors voted unanimously to begin preparing environmental

reports needed to maintain the caps, which must be done before they

expire in 2005.

The restrictions limit the number of annual passengers to 8.4 million

and allow no more than 73 daily departures. Departures are allowed from 7

a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Arrivals are allowed from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

The action comes only four days after a Los Angeles County Superior

Court judge threw out a county initiative, Measure F, that would have

made it harder to push for an airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps

Air Station.

Outside the board chambers after Tuesday’s vote, Newport Beach Mayor

John Noyes said the unanimous vote boded well for the fight to keep the

caps.

“I’m really gratified to see the board come through on a quality of

life issue,” Noyes said, adding that he thought the unanimous vote

indicated a willingness on the part of the board to rise above the

bickering that has characterized the airport debate.

“To me,” he said, “that says it all.”

But the victory was not without a twist for Newport-Mesa.

Board Chairman Charles Smith, who represents the 1st District, tacked

an amendment onto the decision that directed staff to begin looking at

restrictions on flights landing at a potential El Toro airport.

Fifth District Supervisor Tom Wilson initially objected to this

amendment, arguing that the board should work to maintain a distinction

between policies at the two airports. But Smith prevailed after

emphasizing that a different committee would study caps at each site.

A second amendment, which did not pass, would have required the city,

the county and John Wayne Airport to draw more interested parties into

the process of preparing the environmental reports.

Though language requiring inclusiveness was not approved, Newport

Beach officials stressed their desire to keep the flight cap extension

process as open as possible.

“To have all these other groups involved is good,” Councilwoman Norma

Glover said. “It’s going to be cumbersome, and it’s going to be fraught

with many challenges, but I think we can get it done.”

Third District Supervisor Todd Spitzer also pressed Newport Beach City

Atty. Bob Burnham to keep the documents connected with the cap extensions

accessible to the public.

“We all have to have the same information,” Spitzer said. “We need to

baby-sit that a little more.”

Councilman Dennis O’Neil, speaking after the vote, agreed.

“I think [accessibility of records] is an important issue,” he said.

“In the past, there’s been a lot of information that was not disseminated

freely. I believe that in this case that will not be a problem.”