Final Steps Expected Today So That Terminal Can Open to Public

Orange County building-safety officials are expected to issue certificates of occupancy today, the last formal step in allowing the public to use the new Thomas F. Riley Terminal and two adjacent parking structures at John Wayne Airport.

“I’m here to tell you tonight that we’ve worked ourselves out of a job,” joked John McCarney, project director for HPV, the firm hired by the county to oversee the $310-million airport improvement program.

McCarney on Wednesday night gave his final report on the project during the last meeting of the five-member Orange County Airport Commission before a black-tie reception at the new terminal Friday night and a public open house on Saturday. The certificates of occupancy--one from the county fire marshal and the other from the county’s Environmental Management Agency--are needed before the public can enter the new structures.

McCarney said only minor work remains, including last-minute cleanup, splicing of some fiber-optic communications cable, installation of marble at the base of electronic flight-status display boards, and completion of road signs.

During Wednesday’s commission meeting, the panel routinely approved a construction-change order that boosted the price of the terminal to slightly more than $63 million, $4 million above the contract price and about $20 million more than cost estimates used by the county before soliciting bids in 1987.

However, Assistant Airport Manager Jan Mittermeier said credits and reimbursements due the county would eventually lower the cost to an as-yet unidentified figure.

Also during Wednesday night’s session, held in the Costa Mesa City Hall, Alan Murphy, airport project director, blasted McDonnell Douglas Realty Co. for allegedly dragging its feet on its plans to build a privately financed, $5-million, half-mile monorail linking the airport to a McDonnell Douglas office complex across MacArthur Boulevard from the airport.

Murphy said that while the firm has failed to obtain necessary county permits or even design approvals from the airport staff, it has been talking about constructing support pillars as early as Monday.

Murphy and commission members said they would not want McDonnell Douglas to perform any work that would interfere with public use of the new terminal and parking structures after the terminal opens on Sept. 16.

McDonnell Douglas officials could not be reached for comment.