Economy Soars on Wings of Busy Jets : Expanding Ontario Airport Helps to Feed Inland Empire Boom

The Inland Empire boom is most visible at the western end of Riverside and San Bernardino counties--in Chino, Corona, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and other communities close to the rapidly expanding Ontario International Airport.

The growth of the airport--passenger traffic rose by one-third in the last five years, while there was a thirtyfold increase in cargo volume--has spurred residential, commercial and industrial development in the nearby region, which is fast losing its rural character.

The vineyards and citrus groves that once covered the landscape have almost disappeared, to be replaced by the expanded airport, housing tracts and commercial developments.

New houses are springing up everywhere, as young families searching for affordable homes spill over the Los Angeles County and Orange County lines.

In Rancho Cucamonga, two developments alone--Terra Vista and Victoria--are expected to offer more than 17,000 new homes, condominiums and apartments.

Doubling in Value

In 1984, the value of new building permits issued in Chino, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga doubled over the previous year. The three cities accounted for about half of all the building permits in San Bernardino County last year.

The plans for Chino Hills, a choice undeveloped area just east of the Los Angeles County line, call for 40,000 units to be built by the end of the century.

Corona has plans for 2,000 new units a year.

“I have never seen such a vibrant atmosphere,” said James Bailey, vice president of William Lyon Co., which is developing the huge Victoria project in Rancho Cucamonga. “It’s like the old days in Orange County.”

Ambitious commercial enterprises also are under way, including the 1,350-acre California Commerce Center in Rancho Cucamonga and the 763-acre Ontario Center, on the site of the former Ontario Motor Speedway.

“The boom is no longer just around the corner--it’s here, it’s upon us,” said Brent Hunter, manager of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t know how much more growth can happen in a year around here and have any semblance of order.”

Energetic Leaders

Many of the region’s energetic new leaders do not like to think of themselves as part of the Inland Empire, a term they identify with the disappearing agricultural past.

“I don’t know anybody (in the west end) who still uses ‘Inland Empire,’ ” said Mayor Jon D. Mikels of Rancho Cucamonga. “This is a distinctly different area. We’ve carved out a niche for ourselves.”

Many communities at the western end of San Bernardino County find they have more in common with eastern Los Angeles County than with their own county seat, an hour’s drive away in San Bernardino.

There has even been some talk of forming a new county, made up of eastern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino counties, but little has come of that.

Much of the activity in this region is related to the growth of Ontario International Airport--once just a sleepy alternate landing field for Los Angeles but now blossoming into a major airport.

“Until recently, a lot of people thought Ontario Airport was in Canada,” said Dennis Watson, the airport’s public relations director.

Dozen Carriers

Last year a dozen carriers flew 3.1 million passengers to and from Ontario, an increase of 25% over 1983. Passenger traffic has increased for 45 consecutive months.

If terminal facilities are expanded as planned, airport officials say they expect to handle 6 million passengers by 1990 and 12 million by the end of the century.

Ontario Airport also has become a major shipping point, increasing its cargo volume from 10 million pounds in 1980 to 295 million pounds last year. United Parcel Service, one of the largest of the overnight delivery companies, bases its jet fleet at Ontario.

The airport acts as a magnet for hotels, restaurants and other retail businesses.

A 365-room Red Lion Inn adjacent to the airport has operated at close to capacity since opening in January, 1982. Several other hotels are being built near the airport, and a 310-room Hilton Inn is under construction at Ontario Center, a few miles away.

The airport generates about 4,300 jobs, manager Michael DiGirolamo said.

Part of Ontario’s rapid growth is due to overcrowding at other Los Angeles area airports.

Ad Campaign

Congestion is so severe at John Wayne Airport in Orange County that the Orange County Board of Supervisors has authorized an advertising campaign to encourage people to use Ontario instead.

A 1980 study by the Southern California Assn. of Governments found that the Los Angeles area would have an overload of 25 million air passengers by 1995, even if the long-postponed Palmdale airport is built.

If the Ontario airport is to realize its growth potential, however, improved access roads are needed. About $40 million in federal funding for this purpose has been stymied in Congress for two years, and prospects for obtaining the money in this tight budget year are dim.

Another problem that must be solved is airport noise. The sound of jets roaring out of Ontario makes life miserable for many people living west of the runways.

Some live in Ontario’s oldest Mexican-American barrio, while others are in relatively new housing tracts.

Adrian Meewis, a 70-year-old Dutch sign painter, whose small shop and tidy home are located just a few blocks west of the airport, said he has been complaining about the noise since 1959 with little success.

Driven Out

Meewis said the noise has driven most homeowners and business operators out of the area, and “we are becoming a neighborhood of undesirables.”

Meewis and other residents have filed a series of lawsuits against the airport in federal and state courts, but none has been resolved.

The Catholic diocese of San Bernardino also has filed suit, asking that the airport pay for insulating nearby churches and schools. The Ontario-Montclair Unified School District also has complained about the impact of jet noise on some of its schools.

DiGirolamo, the airport manager, said he is concerned about the noise complaints, because “we’ve seen what has happened elsewhere--if you do not pay attention to your noise problem, then you’re not going to have an airport to operate from.”

DiGirolamo said several steps have been taken to reduce noise levels at Ontario, including a ban on takeoffs to the west from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Another part of the problem will be solved by quieter jets, he said, although he agreed that the noise level will increase if traffic volume doubles or triples in the next decade.

Study of Impact

The airport manager also said a study is under way to identify property owners who are suffering the most from the noise problem and these people probably will be paid to move elsewhere.

Ultimately, DiGirolamo said, “it is a question of which is more important--dynamic airport growth that’s going to employ thousands of people or the noise problems of a few?”

In the pro-growth atmosphere that now prevails throughout the Inland Empire, there is little doubt that economic considerations will win out over noise protests, unless the courts intervene.

ONTARIO AIRPORT ACTIVITY

1980 1984 No. of airlines 9 12 Daily flights 44 78 Annual passengers 2 million 3.1 million Cargo volume 10 million 295 million pounds pounds

Source: Ontario International Airport