Local News in Brief : Hearing Set on Airport Plan

A development plan for Hawthorne Municipal Airport that in 15 or 20 years could mean the removal of as many as 150 homes north of the airport will be the subject of a City Council public hearing in mid-February.

About 100 residents and airport users participated in a hearing this week on the plan, prepared by an Irvine-based consulting firm, Foresite West. Residents expressed concerns about being forced out of their homes, while others supported a modernization plan, according to Airport Administrator Robert D. Trimborn. The plan calls for these four phases of development, he said:

By 1992, the first phase would involve restructuring the existing airport and consolidating five business operations into two full-service aircraft maintenance facilities. No homes would have to be removed for this phase.

From 1993 to 1997, a 4-acre expansion would involve an area bounded by 119th Place, Doty Avenue, 120th Street and Prairie Avenue. An unspecified number of homes would be purchased under eminent domain procedures, under which owners receive fair market value for their homes plus relocation expenses.

From 1998 to 2002, five more acres would be acquired east of the Phase 2 area. Here again, the plan does not specify how many homes would be taken.

From 2003 to 2008, the most ambitious phase of the expansion would bring the total of homes affected to 150 at a cost of $20 million, officials said.

Trimborn said the exact number of homes that would be affected by each phase will be spelled out before the City Council hearing next year.