2 New Sites Discussed for Airport : Location Panel Looks at Plateau, Canyon in South County

The agency seeking a site for a new airport is about to examine two locations in south Orange County that have never been seriously considered before: Cristianitos Canyon east of San Clemente and a plateau in Cleveland National Forest west of Ortega Highway.

Officials of the Airport Site Coalition said the new sites are scheduled to be discussed at the agency’s Saturday meeting in Irvine. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Fluor Corp. building.

Also, the panel may begin eliminating some previously evaluated sites, officials said.

The Cristianitos Canyon site would enable aircraft to depart over the ocean, a coalition official said. The Cleveland National Forest site could have runways situated at an angle to the ocean.

Near Foothill Toll Route

Both sites are several miles inland from the coast, and both locations are near the route of the planned Foothill toll highway, which when completed will connect the foothills east of Irvine with Interstate 5 near San Clemente, through Rancho Santa Margarita. The toll road’s route was a major factor in looking at the area for a suitable site, a coalition official said.

There are no homes near the two sites that would be seriously affected by airport noise, they said, but tons of earth may have to be moved to make the sites usable, a problem that has dogged proposals for an airport in Santiago Canyon east of Orange and Tustin.

San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano residents have long opposed any site near them.

The Airport Site Coalition is a group of community activists selected by the Board of Supervisors 2 years ago. The agency has received federal grants to conduct the search.

The supervisors were required to renew decades-old efforts to find a site for a new airport as part of a 1985 out-of-court settlement between opponents of the expansion of John Wayne Airport and the county, which owns the airport. That expansion is now under way.

Previously, the supervisors had twice adopted resolutions declaring that no feasible site exists within the county’s boundaries.

Some of the other sites under consideration are the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center, El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and a jetport in the ocean.

The coalition has authority to recommend a site but not to build an airport.

Los Alamitos Site Foes

Still, consideration of any site stirs opposition, as demonstrated recently when Seal Beach, Rossmoor and Los Alamitos residents began circulating flyers attacking any proposed commercial use of the reserve center in Los Alamitos.

Also, a coalition of south county residents has signed petitions angrily denouncing proposed joint use for the El Toro air station.

The Airport Site Coalition is using a new method to try to reach a consensus. It involves dividing people who attend the group’s meetings into small workshops, at which criteria for new airport sites are discussed, with the aim of later using that criteria to forge an agreement on the merits of particular locations.