County Will Appeal Court Ban on Airport Expansion

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to appeal a ruling that held the county in contempt of court for adopting a $150-million master plan for John Wayne Airport and prohibited planning for airport expansion.

Board members said they will ask the 4th District Court of Appeal to set aside Superior Court Judge Philip Schwab’s order, which held that the county had violated a 41-per-day ceiling on the number of jet flights at the airport by adopting a master plan authorizing eventual expansion of the airport to 73 flights daily.

Though a limited expansion to 55 flights daily, which took place April 1, was not affected by the contempt ruling, Schwab ordered county officials to halt all planning for further airport expansion, including engineering work for a new terminal and plans for relocating Santa Ana Heights residents whose homes are in the area most affected by jet noise.

“We’d like to go on with whatever we’re authorized to do, primarily because of the horrendous traffic situation that is out there at the airport,” Board Chairman Thomas F. Riley said after the vote, taken in a closed meeting. “I don’t believe the most ardent supporter of shutting down the airport would not agree that the present terminal is a disgrace for Orange County.”

Schwab issued the contempt ruling at the request of the City of Newport Beach and an environmental group, Stop Polluting Our Newport, which had won the original court order limiting jet flights to 41 daily when the group successfully challenged the environmental impact report prepared for an earlier expansion plan in 1982.

County officials have said that because they prepared a new master plan and environmental studies for the most recent expansion proposal, they were not required to obtain the court’s permission to exceed 41 flights.

In any case, an order prohibiting the county from proceeding with the expansion plan was not an appropriate remedy for contempt, which is usually punishable by fines or jail terms, said Deputy County Counsel Dan Didier.

“We believe that the county is not in contempt. We also believe that the order to cease implementation of the master plan is beyond the scope of Judge Schwab’s authority in a contempt proceeding,” Didier said.

Because U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr. has tentatively taken jurisdiction over the new master plan, a Superior Court judge has no authority to block it, he added.

Jurisdiction in Dispute

Attorneys for Newport Beach, however, have already filed motions with Hatter asking him to give up jurisdiction on the new master plan as a result of Schwab’s ruling. Hatter will decide that issue on June 24.

Until then, county attorneys have cautioned airport officials against proceeding with any work on the expansion plan, including measures to lessen the effects of increased noise brought about by the April 1 expansion to 55 flights, Riley said.

For example, the county has halted its search for an alternate airport site and has also suspended studies aimed at reducing the noise of jets approaching the airport and moving the present 11 p.m. curfew on jets back to 10 p.m.

“Nobody wins in these situations,” Riley complained. “Because if you miss your airplane because of the inadequacy of the airport, or if you run into two or three bad situations because of the terminal, if you had any sympathy for those in the impacted area, you soon begin to lose it.”

County officials did retain one requirement contained in the master plan for expansion to 55 flights, which limits the total number of departures to 12 every hour.

Accordingly, traffic congestion and parking difficulties have been minimal, even with 14 additional daily flights, according to airport operations manager Denis Horn.

Since the expansion, parking has been one of the few major problems. On several occasions, airport officials have had to take over rental car parking spaces and close some through-lanes in the long-term parking lot to accommodate an overflow of cars, particularly during the middle of the week when business travel is heaviest, Horn said.

Parking Averages Out

On a monthly average, however, parking volume has not changed appreciably with the increase in flights, probably because lighter use of parking lots on weekends--with a recent increase in parking rates--has offset heavier use during the week. “Vacation users may be looking at budget more than business users during the week,” Horn said.

Rates were increased from $6 to $10 a day in the short-term parking lot nearest the terminal and from $4 to $6 a day in the long-term lot.

The mid-week parking crunch should be resolved next week, when a new parking lot on the north side of the San Diego Freeway is opened for additional long-term parking at $3 a day. Shuttle service from the lot to the airport will be provided.

County officials estimate it will take 30 to 45 days for the appellate court to answer the county’s request that it set aside Schwab’s contempt order.

In the meantime, Didier said, attorneys may also ask the court to impose a stay on Schwab’s order within the next few days, a move that would allow the county to resume planning for airport expansion until the appeals court makes a final decision.