LAX Official Calls for O.C. Residents to Pay a User Fee

A Los Angeles airport commissioner is floating a proposal to charge Orange County residents a special fee whenever they use LAX.

The idea raised a swift and furious outcry from foes of a proposed El Toro airport, who claim the commissioner is trying to force Orange County into building a large commercial airport.

Leland Wong, a member of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, has asked the city attorney’s office to determine whether it’s legal to charge Orange County residents for using Los Angeles International Airport.

Wong said the fees could be used to ease the effect Orange County travelers have on LAX and the surrounding communities.

Wong first made the proposal while acting as a facilitator for a panel at a Los Angeles World Airports luncheon on June 8 to an audience of mostly Asian Pacific trade business leaders.

“The concern I have is there is a regional demand for air traffic,” he said at that luncheon. “If LAX is going to grow, then everybody else has to step up to the plate.”

Other airports in the Los Angeles region are expanding, he said, but with the passage of an initiative in March that makes it more difficult to build airports, Orange County appears less likely to increase its air capacity.

Last year, 64 million passengers used LAX, 14% of them from Orange County, said Gail Gaddi, an airport spokeswoman.

Orange County voters in March overwhelmingly passed Measure F, which requires two-thirds voter approval before county supervisors can authorize airport projects, large jails near homes or hazardous-waste landfills.

But groups that oppose the construction of a commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station saw Wong’s comments as an attempt to coerce Orange County residents into supporting the effort.

“First of all, [Wong’s] idea is illegal,” said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for an anti-airport coalition. “If you want to propose such a tax, then let’s tax L.A. County residents each time they come into Orange County to go to the beaches or to go to work.”

Susan Withrow, a Mission Viejo councilwoman and chairwoman of the anti-airport El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, called Wong’s proposal “the most twisted public policy rationale I’ve ever heard of.”

In addition, Wong missed his target, she said.

He should be surcharging residents living in Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, she said. Air traffic projections call for those rapidly growing areas to have 16.6 million annual passengers by 2015, compared with a projected 12.5 million in Orange County.

“It’s discriminatory,” Withrow said. “What’s next, an iron curtain?”

Bret Lobner, a Los Angeles senior assistant city attorney whom Wong had contacted for legal advice on imposing a passenger fee, said Wong’s proposal could be illegal under federal law.

“I told him that as a general rule, an airport may not impose a fee upon a passenger and the exception is the passenger facility charge which is a ticket charge that can be collected by air carriers and forwarded to the airports,” Lobner said.

Legal issues aside, Orange County needs to share the regional air traffic responsibility, said El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, whose city, like others that surround LAX, is plagued by noise and airport traffic.

“Leland Wong may be using the wrong vehicle here,” Gordon said, “but our feeling is that if Orange County doesn’t want to be responsible for air travel, then Orange County should be held responsible for being irresponsible.”

Chuck Smith, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and a member of a pro-airport majority, said he understands where Wong is coming from.

“From my standpoint, LAX is trying to send Orange County a message,” Smith said. “They’re saying we have to take care of Orange County’s demand. Right now, 96% of air cargo that’s generated in Orange County is trucked to LAX, Ontario or other airports. That air cargo demand in the county will triple by the year 2020.”

Wong said he isn’t taking a punitive stab at Orange County residents.

“We have a responsibility to the residents living around LAX,” Wong said. “They’ve been telling us, why do we have to take the burden of the traffic and the noise? People there in Orange County want a quality of life. Well, guess what? So do our people.”