Supervisors key to extending airport limits

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- The Newport Beach City Council will urge the county

Board of Supervisors to lead the effort to keep the curfew and flight

restrictions intact at John Wayne Airport after 2005.

“It is up to the Board of Supervisors to seek an extension,” said

former mayor Tom Edwards, who helped secure the original airport

agreement in 1985. “If the county goes forward, that goes a big way to

selling this thing. Without the county, you can’t do this.”

Securing the support of the supervisors may be just the first round in

the battle. Extending airport restrictions may require final approval

from the Federal Aviation Administration or the courts. No one is sure

since the John Wayne agreement was a precedent-setting case.

“I don’t know that there is a single right way to do it,” said Mike

Gatzke, special counsel to the county. “I think we’re very front end of

the process and it’s probably too early to tell. I don’t think the Board

of Supervisors has yet to decide how they’d like to proceed.”

Whatever the case, the first hurdle is getting the supervisors on

board.

Mayor John Noyes said Supervisor Tom Wilson thinks the city has a good

shot at gaining support for the extension and will take the matter to the

board.

The City Council tonight will vote on adopting a resolution urging the

supervisors to extend the airport restrictions until the end of 2025.

Last April, Noyes announced the council would redouble its efforts to

extend the 1985 settlement agreement, a 20-year compromise that was the

result of a joint lawsuit by the city of Newport Beach and several

citizens’ groups.

The original agreement caps the number of annual passengers to 8.4

million (the airport served 7 million in 1999) and allows 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. on Sundays. Arrivals are allowed

from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Saturday.

Since 1985, federal laws have been passed banning locally imposed

airport restrictions, including the curfew and limits on certain noisy

airplanes that are imposed at John Wayne.

The other hurdle, Edwards said, is getting anti-El Toro, South County

residents to support the effort. Meg Waters, spokeswoman for the El Toro

Reuse Planning Authority, said they would support the plan if the idea of

an airport at El Toro is dropped.

The local Airport Working Group recently announced it will support the

council’s effort to extend the caps at John Wayne, but will still push

for an airport at El Toro.

“We trust the city understands the agreement is merely a fig leaf

masking the real problem -- a projected doubling of aviation demand in

our region,” said spokesman Tom Naughton.

FYI

WHAT: City Council meeting

WHEN: 7 p.m. tonight

WHERE: City Council chambers, City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd.