Newport councilman to be honored for airport service

Paul Clinton

JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- A 17-year veteran of the airport wars, Newport

Beach Councilman Gary Proctor will be honored tonight for his service on

an airport commission.

Proctor will receive a reception and plaque for the time he spent on

the Orange County Airport Commission. Before running for and winning a

seat on the Newport Beach City Council in November, Proctor held a seat

on the commission for 17 years before resigning last year.

Appointed to the commission in the early 1980s by former 3rd District

Supervisor Bruce Nestande, Proctor sat in on the negotiations that led to

a 1985 settlement agreement. That deal -- between the county, the city of

Newport Beach, the Airport Working Group and Stop Polluting Our Newport

-- imposed noise restrictions at John Wayne Airport.

Looking through his kaleidoscopic lens into the past, Proctor said the

20 years of noise restrictions reassured him at the time. Now, they are

set to expire at the end of 2005, a date in the not too distant future.

“At the time, 20 years seemed like a long time away,” Proctor said.

“But it makes me realize how quickly things can change.”

Proctor, who has spent much of the 1990s lobbying for an airport at

the shuttered El Toro Marine base, said he was excited to receive the

honor.

Only David Prebish, the current airport commissioner from the 1st

District, has served longer than Proctor, who resigned on election day in

November to avoid a conflict of interest on the City Council.

Proctor will be honored at an airport reception that is not open to

the public.