Board balks at backing airport caps

Alex Coolman

The Orange County Board of Supervisors dealt a blow to Newport Beach

residents Tuesday, refusing to begin a process to extend restrictions on

flights at John Wayne Airport.

Fifth District Supervisor Tom Wilson had pushed for unanimous board

support to begin the lengthy process of preparing the environmental

report for an eventual continuation of the caps.

Instead, the supervisors came up with a 2-2 vote, with only board

Chairman Charles Smith siding with Wilson. Supervisors Todd Spitzer and

James Silva cast “no” votes, and Cynthia Coad abstained.

Coad and Silva said they had not had enough time to review the issue.

The restrictions, put in place in 1985, expire in 2005. They limit 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. Sundays. Arrivals are allowed from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through

Saturday.

The move was a setback to Newport Beach’s hopes of maintaining

restrictions on the number of flights that can land at John Wayne.

However, Wilson asked that the issue be reconsidered at the board’s

Dec. 5 meeting and expressed his hope that the board, once it has had

time to think about the issue, will allow the environmental review to

proceed.

Members of the Newport Beach City Council, who gathered outside the

board chambers after the vote, remained optimistic despite the outcome.

“It’s the major issue in the county, and they just need more of a

comfort level,” said Mayor John Noyes. “I think they’re just proceeding

with caution.”

Barbara Lichman, head of the political action committee for the pro-El

Toro Airport Working Group, was more critical in her assessment of the

board’s action.

“Wilson’s submission of this resolution is a public relations gambit,”

she said.

Lichman added that the city and the Board of Supervisors are making a

mistake in approaching the flight cap issue as if it were only of concern

to Newport Beach.

“There’s an interstate commerce angle” she said. “[John Wayne flight

traffic] cannot be arbitrarily limited without some discussion of

compensatory options for air carriers.”

Before their vote, board members raised the possibility of striking

various compromises between Newport Beach and El Toro opponents.

Spitzer asked Noyes if the city, in exchange for extensions on John

Wayne caps, would agree to stop pursuing an airport at El Toro.

“The short answer,” Noyes responded, “is no.”

The supervisors also discussed limiting flights that could land at El

Toro if it were made an airport.

Smith included language in the defeated measure that would have

instructed staff to consider the question of setting such limits.

Noyes, though he did not specifically state the city’s support for

such limits, said he did not object to the language’s inclusion.

“There’s a move afoot among county officials and organizations to talk

about a smaller airport [at El Toro],” he said. “It’s the county’s

problem. [Newport Beach] should have the right to support it or not

support it.”