COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:

I want to talk about an issue that affects our city: the airport. The City Council recognizes that protecting residents from the impacts of John Wayne Airport is the No. 1 priority. The city has been active in this fight for more than 30 years and will continue to be proactive.

John Wayne Airport is the most noise restricted, passenger restricted and flight restricted airport in the nation. Our City Council has put together a plan to realize the goal of restricting future JWA expansion. The realization of our goal will not occur overnight, and it will involve all cities affected by expansion.

You may have read about the joint efforts of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa regarding JWA. The council will continue reaching out to Costa Mesa to deal with issues like airport noise, traffic and pollution. We hope our cooperative efforts will act as a springboard to work with other corridor cities like Santa Ana, Tustin and perhaps Irvine.

The city also initiated a more detailed look at the operations of commercial aircraft at John Wayne, while monitoring recent FAA activities, to determine what avenues may be available to mitigate noise and ways to offer incentives to airlines for quieter aircraft.

The city is also redesigning its website, which will include a portion devoted to the airport. The city has already begun to initiate a continuing dialogue with homeowners associations and community groups like AWG, AirFair and SPON, all of whom have a stake in the city’s fight.

The City Council recognizes the frustration that many feel with the lost opportunity that the closure of the El Toro Marine Base presented; however, we must move beyond that and recognize that El Toro is no longer an airport option and rather work to protect the hard-fought limitations on John Wayne Airport that we have achieved. What I have outlined above is but a brief overview of the activities at the city. But I want to reassure everyone that it is a fight to which the city is committed.

It is not a fight that can be achieved today, tomorrow or the next day. It will take hard work and patience, but with your support and by our working together, we will prevail.

Ed Selich is the mayor of Newport Beach.