BYRON DE ARAKAL -- Between the lines

Finally, a few victories. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge

James Otero summarily discharged Measure F to the ash heap of

unconstitutional initiatives. And Tuesday, the Orange County Board of

Supervisors, in a unanimous vote, gave the nod to fire up the machinery

for extending the flight caps and curfews of the John Wayne Airport

Settlement Agreement for an additional 20 years.

The wins are sweet, to be sure. But in the case of moving the

settlement agreement extension off the dime, awkward cracks in the city’s

unified offensive for an El Toro airport emerged. How do we know?

There was a whiff of equivocation in the air at the Nov. 28 session of

the Newport Beach City Council. When the council’s business lit upon its

move to prod the Orange County Board of Supervisors to open formal

discussions extending the settlement agreement, outgoing Mayor John Noyes

looked like a guy who was running out of time and was tired of fighting.

Council members Dennis O’Neil and Norma Glover looked the same way.

Seemingly bruised and weary from a years-long fight with South Orange

County’s vehement opposition to an airport at the shuttered El Toro

Marine Corps Air Station, Noyes, O’Neil and Glover more than hinted that

they now view the extension of the flight caps and curfews at John Wayne

as an issue to be hammered out separately from the ground battle over El

Toro’s future.

“In the dialogue we’ve had with [South Orange County cities],” said

Noyes, “they understood fully that we believe El Toro is an option. We

were listening to them tell us that they think there are other options

[for El Toro], and we will continue to listen. And down the road, who

knows, we may be able to help them look into those options.”

“We’ve represented to the Board of Supervisors [that] our request to

extend this settlement agreement is really separate [and] apart from the

El Toro issue,” O’Neil said.

Added Glover: “We have deliberately tried not to tie this to El Toro.”

Why the olive branch? The conciliation? It’s clear that, faced with

the expiration of the existing settlement agreement -- which restricts

the number of flights and the times of departures and arrivals -- at the

end of 2005, the City Council was being pressured by the clock. And it

was sobered by the reality that hammering out an extension will be a

lengthy and difficult exercise not unlike pushing a car uphill with a

rope.

I think there’s more to it than that, however. My theory is the City

Council felt the hot breath of the 800-pound gorilla (read: El Toro

opponents) represented by 5th District Supervisor Tom Wilson. While

Wilson, the county representative of Newport Beach, favors extending the

settlement agreement, he could not afford to press the opening of formal

negotiations if his South County constituents believe Newport Beach is

advancing the settlement agreement and an El Toro airport as two parts of

one solution. That would be politically untenable.

So it may have seemed strategically savvy to uncouple the El Toro

rhetoric from the engine of the settlement agreement extension. And

perhaps that’s why the City Council conveniently left the Airport Working

Group and its fiery leader, Barbara Lichman, out of the noodling sessions

that produced the first draft settlement agreement resolution that was

placed before the Board of Supervisors and roundly rejected. After all,

that group is a persistent and effective advocate for an airport at El

Toro.

Nevertheless, the Airport Working Group played a principle role in

writing the 1985 settlement. It is a signator to the compact. Equally

important, Lichman’s deep experience in complex airport negotiations and

her take-no-prisoners style represent potent weaponry that Newport Beach

must have if it is to preserve the provisions of the settlement

agreement. That’s why the council’s exclusion of the Airport Working

Group was shortsighted, if not fender-headed. And Lichman let them know

it at the Nov. 28 gathering.

“We are somewhat nonplused that a year’s worth of discussions has gone

on with South County, a non-stakeholder in [the extension issue], while

the stakeholders in Newport Beach have not been consulted,” Lichman said.

“We ask most urgently that the Airport Working Group be immediately

involved in all action relative to the extension of the agreement. We

deserve that courtesy.”

She got it. The council and the Airport Working Group penned new

language to the extension resolution language that enumerates that the

signators to the 1985 settlement agreement must be a part of the

negotiations to extend the flight caps and curfews.

So long as Lichman and the Newport Beach City Council remain on the

same team, I’m hopeful the city can maintain a united front with respect

to an airport at El Toro. For without an El Toro airport, any settlement

agreement extension will quickly wither under the inevitable legal

challenges seeking the expansion of John Wayne Airport as the only means

to accommodate the nation’s air transportation demands.

* BYRON DE ARAKAL is a writer and communications consultant. He lives

in Costa Mesa. His column runs Wednesdays. Readers can reach him with

news tips and comments via e-mail at [email protected].