Countywide : Monorail Rolls Despite Dispute, Backer Says
Plans for an airport monorail are back on track, even though a dispute between Newport Beach and Irvine officials remains unresolved, a key monorail proponent said Wednesday.
Bob Young, president of McDonnell Douglas Realty Co., which has offered to build and operate the $3.5-million monorail for free, said he will go ahead with the project, even though Newport Beach officials are still complaining about a zoning ordinance adopted by Irvine officials, which gives a density bonus to McDonnell Douglas Realty’s planned office complex across the street from John Wayne Airport.
The proposed half-mile monorail loop will link the office complex with the airport.
Young said Newport Beach officials have indicated that they will take a wait-and-see approach and invoke an existing tri-city traffic agreement if necessary to resolve the dispute with Irvine.
The tri-city agreement calls for remedial traffic measures whenever one city’s actions cause more traffic congestion in one or both of the other two cities.
Newport Beach officials could not be reached for comment.
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