Panel Urges Halt to Building at Van Nuys Airport : Transportation: Council committee wants construction stopped until a master plan for the facility is adopted.

In response to complaints from homeowners about the growth of Van Nuys Airport, a committee of the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a proposal Tuesday to suspend new construction at the airport until the council adopts a master plan for the facility.

The temporary ban, which also must be approved by the full council, was drafted by Councilman Hal Bernson to address the concerns of homeowners near the airport who complain about jet noise and who fear the airport is growing too fast.

Such a ban, and formalization of an airport master plan, have been goals of airport noise opponents for many years.

The airport is the nation’s busiest general aviation airfield, in numbers of takeoffs and landings.

General aviation includes private, charter and business traffic, but excludes commercial and military flights.

Officials of the city’s Department of Airports said the temporary moratorium would exempt projects that already have been granted city building permits, but would probably block three major projects that would add about 160,000 square feet of hangar space to the 300,000 square feet the airport has.

The ban would not affect the only major project that has already been granted a building permit. Petersen Aviation plans to construct about 35,000 square feet of hangar space.

Demolition work for the Petersen project has begun, and construction is expected to begin soon.

Ali Sar, a spokesman for Bernson, said the motion was made in response to concerns raised by members of the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council, a group of residents, airport users, representatives of local council members and others appointed to make recommendations to the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners.

Some members of the advisory committee have said they fear the airport is growing out of control, Sar said.

“The Department of Airports has been ignoring what should and should not be constructed in the area and allowing a hodgepodge of development,” he said.

The motion for a temporary moratorium was approved unanimously by the planning and land management committee, which is headed by Bernson.

The committee ordered city planners to bring a final draft of the ordinance before the entire City Council within 60 days.

The motion was greeted warmly by homeowners and critics of airport noise.

“I absolutely support it,” said Don Schultz, president of Ban Airport Noise, a group of homeowners critical of the airport. “It’s been long overdue and I’m encouraged by Mr. Bernson’s actions.”

He said the temporary moratorium will not decrease airport noise but will restrain construction that would attract more planes and will make the Department of Airports accountable to the City Council.

“The Department of Airports is a runaway train,” he said.

Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and a longtime vocal critic of the airport, said he is happy because his group has for years been asking city officials to adopt a moratorium.

But Silver said he now fears that the residents chosen to help draft the master plan may not demand strong enough restrictions on new airport construction.

“The plan cannot be any better than the people on the committee,” he said.

Phil Berg, president of the Van Nuys Airport Assn., which represents about 200 tenants, pilots and others who use the airport, said his group does not oppose the temporary building ban so long as it exempts projects that have been reviewed and approved for building permits.

Bernson’s proposal would call for an “interim control ordinance” that would halt “all new construction except where explicitly allowed by permit,” according to the proposal.

The ordinance would apply until the city adopts a master plan for the airport.

Airport officials have already started the process of drafting a master plan by hiring a consultant to interview residents, airport tenants and airport officials to help develop the goals and objectives of the document.

They hope to complete it in 18 months.

The three projects that would be blocked by the control ordinance include a development by Australian publishing magnate Rupert Murdoch that would add 40,000 square feet of hangar space, airport officials said.

Also affected would be a proposal by Southwest Aviation to add about 25,000 square feet of hangar space and a project by Beechcraft West to tear down its present facilities and build a 60,000-square-foot replacement.