LAX Project Advances Amid Storm Clouds

As the City Council overwhelmingly approved Mayor James K. Hahn’s modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, county supervisors, airport-area residents and several local cities prepared to file suit to stop the project.

Council members and airport officials hugged and congratulated one another following the 12-3 vote in support of the $11-billion plan, as applause from a standing-room-only crowd rang out at City Hall.

The city has spent 10 years and $147 million on efforts to upgrade LAX, which received its last facelift in preparation for the 1984 Olympics.

The city hopes to begin construction next year to put more space between the airport’s two southern runways to prevent near misses between aircraft. Other changes include a consolidated rental-car facility, a transit hub and an elevated people-mover.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who is widely credited with rescuing the mayor’s plan by crafting a proposal that pushes the more controversial projects into a second phase, uttered only one word after the long-awaited vote: “Wow.”

In the second phase, the airport would build an off-site check-in center, demolish Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and construct a new terminal complex where the parking garages now stand.

Last month, the City Council first signaled its intention to move forward in a 12-3 vote. With Tuesday’s vote, the council officially approved the planning documents and the environmental impact report. Councilmen Bernard C. Parks, Antonio Villaraigosa and Jack Weiss voted against the plan. The council will have to take a second vote Tuesday on several aspects of the plan.

Two blocks away in downtown Los Angeles, the five-member county Board of Supervisors, which has repeatedly said the plan fails to limit capacity at LAX or spread air traffic among the region’s airports, voted unanimously Tuesday to file suit to block the proposal.

“We told them 10 years ago, all we want is a seat at the table,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, who represents airport-area residents. “We want to be part of the solution. But if we’re not at the table, we’re going to be your worst enemy.”

At an hourlong news conference after the council vote, speaker after speaker lauded the council’s decision. Hahn expressed “disappointment” at the county’s decision to sue.

Airport-area residents are considering joining with the county in its legal action, which under state law must be filed within 30 days. The cities of El Segundo, Inglewood and Culver City, all near the world’s fifth-busiest airport, are also considering lawsuits.

In a last-ditch bid to forestall litigation, L.A. officials are negotiating agreements with several cities around LAX and say they will continue discussions with county officials in an attempt to address their concerns.

Los Angeles is in talks with El Segundo over a deal that would limit capacity at LAX to 78.9 million annual passengers by controlling the number of gates where airplanes park. The plan, however, could run afoul of a federal law that prohibits airports from limiting growth. El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell told the council that he is “hopeful” his city can reach a deal with Los Angeles, but said, “As part of this process to find a negotiated settlement, we may well have to file litigation to preserve our rights.”

County negotiators are also working with the city on a possible compromise that Knabe said he hopes could head off litigation. The county is asking for an agreement similar to the El Segundo deal, which would allow the county to sue the city if it failed to limit growth at LAX.

Los Angeles is also discussing a multimillion-dollar pact with the city of Inglewood to soundproof homes and acquire land under the flight path.

“The operation of the airport impacts our city greater than any other city,” Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn told the council. “Our residents are most impacted and have been waiting for relief for 20 years. We simply can no longer wait for years to fix these problems.”

Los Angeles has already headed off litigation by reaching a $499.5-million agreement with a coalition of 22 environmental, religious and labor groups and the Inglewood and Lennox school districts that would alleviate noise, air pollution and traffic impacts, and provide jobs for airport-area residents.

The accord is still subject to approval by federal officials.

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Times staff writers Jessica Garrison and Jack Leonard contributed to this report.