Airport Noise Suits Bill Vetoed 3rd Time : But Governor Allows Jail Bond Measure to Become Law Without His Signature

Saying that nothing had changed since the issue last crossed his desk, Gov. George Deukmejian on Tuesday vetoed legislation for the third time in four years that would have limited noise lawsuits against John Wayne Airport and other publicly owned airfields.

But the governor signed another measure that had been sought by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, removing the last major financial hurdle for the planned $340-million expansion at John Wayne.

Deukmejian also allowed a $495-million jail bond allocation bill to become law without his signature, saying that he strongly objects to a provision inserted into the measure by Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) and Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) to block an Anaheim jail site selected by the Orange County supervisors.

Saying that he could not hold up the allocation of jail construction funds to California counties, Deukmejian nonetheless took a verbal slap at Robinson and Seymour saying that “decisions relating to the siting of local jail facilities should be made by the local governing agency. “

The deadline for action by the governor on bills passed in the most recent session of the Legislature was midnight Tuesday. Bills not signed or vetoed will become law. Deukmejian acted on about 170 bills Tuesday.

In a terse veto message, Deukmejian said of the airport-noise bill: “I have indicated that I do not agree with the apparent intent of this legislation, which is to preclude homeowners’ ” access to courts.

Noting that he had vetoed similar bills in 1983 and 1984, Deukmejian said the bill by Robinson was a “drastic solution” to the airport’s litigation problems.

Under the bill that was vetoed, a resident would have been able to file only one lawsuit after December, 1987, complaining of airport noise. The governor suggested in his veto message that a once-a-year limit might be more “reasonable.”

Hundreds of Suits Filed

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed over the years against John Wayne and several other airports around the state, including those in Burbank, San Diego and San Francisco.

The bill affecting expansion of John Wayne will allow county officials to sell revenue bonds, without seeking voter approval, to finance the proposed new terminal and parking structure at the airport. The debt would be repaid with rent and a variety of fees collected from airlines and other air travel-related industries at the airport.

The financing method has been used for construction at other airports in California. But John Wayne and Sacramento Metropolitan airports were barred from using revenue bonds because they are owned by counties, not cities or special airport authorities.

Robinson’s measure, which takes effect immediately, gives Orange and Sacramento counties special permission to use revenue bonds “for airport purposes.”

In anticipation that the measure would be enacted, the Orange County Board of Supervisors already has selected an investment firm to underwrite the bond sale.

County officials hope to open a new 294,000-square-foot terminal in 1990. Tentative plans call for preliminary groundwork to start in April, 1987, and for actual construction to begin in April, 1988.

John Wayne’s overcrowded terminal has served as Orange County’s major passenger facility for nearly four decades.

Last year, the county, the City of Newport Beach and a homeowners group signed an agreement that allowed the county to build a new, larger facility and to increase flight operations.

In exchange, the county promised to limit the size of the new facility and to begin development at an alternate regional airport site within 10 years. Although uncertain how they would raise the the estimated $141 million needed for the proposed 1,500-bed jail in Anaheim, Orange County supervisors have said they have may go ahead and build the proposed new jail at the site anyway--in spite of the successful maneuver by Robinson and Seymour to create legislative roadblocks.

The restriction in the jail bonds bill only precludes using state money at the site, and supervisors said last month there may be other ways to finance construction of the much-needed satellite jail. Orange County could receive up to $25.2 million from the jail bonds bill, which will apparently have to be used on other jail construction projects. in recent years, state money has paid for roughly 75% of the construction costs for most county jail projects.

The restriction, which Robinson and Seymour added to the jail bonds measure in June, said specifically that county officials could not use state money for an adult jail that is “within two miles of a major league baseball and football stadium and is within three miles of a major amusement park.”

The provision, which was nicknamed the “Mickey Mouse Amendment,” was cleverly drafted so that it affected only the one site--at Katella Avenue and Douglass Road. An alternate site on Ball Road, even closer to Disneyland, would not be barred under the wording. Determined to keep the restriction just that narrow, Robinson even vehemently rejected a Bay Area assemblyman’s proposed amendment to change “baseball and football stadium” to “baseball or football stadium.”

Immediately after the amendment was added in June, county supervisors denounced it as “blatantly political” and an inappropriate intrusion into a local decision. The supervisors had already been bombarded with criticism by Anaheim residents, the Los Angeles Rams, the California Angels and Disneyland, since they picked the site. they noted that Robinson was involved in an election challenge to U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and suggested that he was trying to win favor with Anaheim voters.

A county Latino leader said he was “dumbfounded” by the governor’s veto of a bilingual education bill. Part I, Page 1.