Officials Sound Alarm on Policy for Jet Noise : Transportation: The chief of John Wayne Airport tells congressmen that the FAA measures could hurt local plans to build a new regional airport.

Officials of John Wayne Airport warned local congressmen Tuesday that the federal government’s proposed new airport noise policy could badly hurt Orange County’s plans to build a new regional airport to serve the county’s needs into the 21st Century.

The new noise policy, formally proposed last month by the Federal Aviation Administration, would make it virtually impossible for counties and cities to impose tough noise restrictions on the quietest and most modern aircraft, which are among the types now regulated at John Wayne Airport, the airport officials said.

At the same time, the policy would phase out the use of older and noisier planes. Existing noise control policies at John Wayne and other airports would not be affected by the new rules.

However, the Orange County officials argued that if the rules are adopted, airport authorities trying to build new facilities will be hard-pressed to persuade local and state governments to permit airport construction near densely populated areas--the places where new airports are needed most.

“With the process (the FAA) has proposed . . . it’s going to make it extremely difficult for the county to put together another airport,” said Jan Mittermeier, manager of John Wayne Airport.

Mittermeier, visiting Washington to attend a convention of transportation officials, met Tuesday with Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), whose district includes the airport, and Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), who represents southern Orange County. Packard and Cox serve on the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over legislation affecting the FAA.

“It’s a Catch-22,” Cox said after the meeting. “Under (California’s) environmental laws and regulations, you’re going to be required to show that noise abatement is part of your plan” in order to build a new airport. “But when you come back here to Washington, “ Cox added, the FAA is “going to study all your noise-abatement proposals and then tell you you can’t do them.”

Michael Scott Gatzke, an attorney for the county who accompanied Mittermeier, said he believes that the new noise policy “is designed to prevent local (airport) proprietors from regulating the system. . . . This is going to make it impossible for a local airport . . . and a local community make a deal (on noise issues) that they can both live with.”

Congress last fall attached provisions requiring development of a federal noise policy to the complex budget bill. Supporters argue that the law will allow the nation’s airports to handle more air traffic by limiting the ability of local governments to restrict air traffic and will at the same time eliminate the noisiest aircraft.

Orange County officials for years have been searching for a site for a new airport to relieve overcrowding at John Wayne Airport, which is wedged between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Last year, the County Board of Supervisors voted to pursue a proposal to transform George Air Force Base in San Bernardino County, which the Pentagon has scheduled to close, into a new regional air facility.

However, critics have suggested that chances for the success of that plan are slim. For one thing, it relies on construction of a $5-billion, high-speed rail system to connect the airport to Orange County cities.

The search for a new airport was mandated by a 1985 agreement between county officials and the city of Newport Beach that established strict local noise regulations for airport traffic. The agreement permitted the expansion of John Wayne Airport to serve a maximum of 8 million passengers a year. However, demand for air travel in Orange County is expected to rise to more than 20 million passengers a year by 2005, Gatzke said.

The Orange County officials argued that the new federal airport noise policy will all but ban at new airports the local regulation of so-called Stage III aircraft, the newest and quietest planes. Local regulations at John Wayne already ban noisier Stage II aircraft, and they impose restrictions on Stage III aircraft that limit the number and timing of flights and that strictly chart flight paths.

The FAA will accept comments on the new rules until April 15.