Concerns Raised Over Building Arena in Landing Path : Safety: John Wayne Airport officials say Caltrans’ worries are excessive and unlikely to interfere with the facility’s construction.

A state agency has raised concerns about the safety of building a 20,000-seat indoor sports arena under the final landing approach to John Wayne Airport.

But local airport officials on Tuesday appeared less concerned about the potential hazard, and a city official said he doubts the issue will impede construction of the facility, which is in the early stages of planning.

“We are particularly concerned about the potential safety impacts associated with concentrating such a large number of people beneath the approach to an airport as active as John Wayne Airport,” according to a letter to the city of Santa Ana from Sandy Hesnard, environmental planner for Caltrans’ division of aeronautics.

The state agency has no authority to block construction of the arena, Hesnard said in an interview Tuesday. The agency’s comments serve only to bring the issue to the attention of other agencies, she said.

Hesnard conceded that a similar condition exists at the Forum arena in Inglewood, which is in the landing path of Los Angeles International Airport. But she said the Forum was built before the adoption of the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires environmental impact reports and gives the public an opportunity to review construction projects.

Hesnard’s letter, dated Dec. 15, was written in response to the city’s environmental impact report on the proposed arena. Copies of the letter were also sent to John Wayne Airport officials and to the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission.

Santa Ana City Manager David N. Ream said he doubts that Caltrans’ concerns will affect construction of the arena, which is to be located at Edinger Avenue and Lyon Street, about three miles northwest of the airport.

George Britton, executive officer of the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission, which makes land-use recommendations for the airport vicinity, said that agency had previously determined that the arena was far enough away from the airport and not tall enough to pose a problem.

“Obviously we’re going to take another look at it because of the (division of) aeronautics letter,” Britton said.

The commission has no direct authority over construction projects, but can make a finding that a project is inconsistent with its land-use plan, Britton said. Even then, the Santa Ana City Council could override such a determination with a two-thirds vote, he said.

John Wayne Airport Manager George Rebella said airport officials advised the city in October that the arena “site is very likely to be overflown very frequently.”

However, Rebella was surprised at the level of concern expressed by Caltrans.

“I don’t think we felt as strongly . . . that it’s a safety hazard,” Rebella said. “I don’t think it’s a safety issue per se. Generally, the crashes don’t happen that far out on approach.”

Rebella said the city should address whether it could handle an emergency at that site.

“If there were a crash during an event, would there be enough triage facilities to handle that type of an impact?”

The city will address Caltrans’ concerns and other issues in its final draft of the environmental report, according to a planning department official.

The arena’s environmental report prepared for the city contains a reference to the arena being situated in the path of incoming flights.

However, the report “really emphasized structure height, rather than the number of people,” Hesnard said.