COUNTYWIDE : Completion Date for Terminal Undecided

Airport officials and the contractor for the new passenger terminal at John Wayne Airport are still negotiating the completion date for the building although the public opening is scheduled for Sept. 15, official correspondence indicates.

Neither County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley nor officials from Taylor Woodrow Construction California Ltd. anticipate any delay in the public opening. The county earlier announced the grand opening of the $59-million terminal--named after Riley--would be rescheduled from April 1 to Sept. 15.

“There are ongoing negotiations with the county regarding a contractual extension of time,” according to a statement issued Thursday by William Ostfeld, a senior vice president of Taylor Woodrow Construction California Ltd. “These negotiations are being conducted through normal channels. Taylor Woodrow . . . publicly agreed to the Sept. 15 opening date. We don’t anticipate any delay with construction that will affect that date.”

In a March 1 letter from Taylor Woodrow project executive Chris Elliott to Airport Manager George Rebella, Elliott claimed that the county had “reversed” itself on an Aug. 23, 1990, completion date. The letter indicated that the county wanted Aug. 1, 1990, as the contractual completion date.

The date is important to the county and the contractor because it determines whether Taylor Woodrow pays fines for breaking the deadline, or the county pays bonuses for early completion.