Cost for El Toro Airport Doubles in County Report

By JEAN O. PASCO and PHIL WILLON

Dec. 24, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

The cost of a proposed airport at El Toro has nearly doubled to $2.9 billion, county officials announced Thursday in a long-awaited environmental review, which also acknowledged for the first time that many areas of South County will face “significant” jet noise.

The report, eagerly anticipated by both sides in the airport fight, also shows that the county has abandoned its promise to pursue a nighttime flight curfew at the proposed El Toro airport. Instead, officials will try to persuade the airlines and the federal government to restrict the loudest jets from flying at night, something no other airport has accomplished.

Through 10,000 pages of documentation addressing everything from the economic impact and safety concerns of the airport to traffic, pollution and noise, county officials laid out the framework for what they hope will become the second-largest commercial airport in Southern California.

“This is a needed and lasting solution to our escalating aviation needs,” said Michael Lapin, the county’s El Toro project manager, as he presented 39 volumes of documents.

County planners continued to insist Thursday that no taxpayer money would be spent on the new airport. The first phase of the airport would cost an estimated $993.4 million, with two-thirds of the money coming from bonds sold based on anticipated airport revenues, such as airline landing fees. Of the total, another $130 million would come from a fee tacked on to tickets sold at both El Toro and John Wayne Airport, according to the county report.

Another $800 million would be spent in the second phase of construction, also through county revenue bonds.

The overall cost rose to $2.9 billion--nearly double the original estimate--because of added improvements such as off-site road costs, an airport transit system and other items to be privately financed.

But the details of the financial analysis also show that the county will be required to donate some taxpayer money to cover costs, said Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposes the new airport. The report notes that on July 1, 2001, the airport would need the county to shift $19.3 million in county money to cover debt-service requirements and free up that same amount to be available for El Toro, to be called Orange County International Airport.

“They can’t pay for OCX [Orange County International] unless they steal money from John Wayne Airport, raise fees on passengers and launder general fund money to free up John Wayne Airport money for El Toro,” Spitzer said.

The county’s plan calls for the airport to handle an estimated 28.8 million passengers a year by 2020. John Wayne Airport would remain open but would serve fewer airline passengers, dropping to 5.4 million passengers a year; last year, John Wayne served 7.5 million passengers.

The report contains the county’s first admission that a new airport would generate significant jet noise for large numbers of residents in South County, particularly at night and in the communities of Laguna Woods, Aliso Viejo and Portola Hills. In the past, county officials classified the noise as insignificant.

However, the report also noted that no homes or schools would be within what the state considers a high-noise zone that requires special insulation. By comparison, the report said up to 1,863 homes would need insulation if El Toro isn’t built and John Wayne Airport is expanded to handle up to 25 million passengers a year. Building John Wayne Airport to that capacity would cost $4.3 billion and require the condemnation of 700 acres of land, forcing the closure of dozens of hotels and high-rise buildings.

The county made another concession to noise-sensitive residents of Anaheim Hills. After the airport is built, planes will bypass the area by heading east instead of flying over homes.

Airport opponents said they would wait until reading the voluminous document before commenting. But Meg Waters, spokeswoman for a coalition of eight anti-airport South County cities, said that it appears the technical information was used to “whitewash” the airport’s impact.

Waters said the county’s promise to push for nighttime noise restrictions is spurious. Even the quietest jets--those generating 86 or less decibels of noise--sound “like a jack-hammer,” she said.

Other airports also have attempted to obtain similar nighttime restrictions without success. Since 1990, a federal law has limited the ability of airports to regulate airline operations. In exchange, the carriers promised to use only relatively quiet jets. Their entire fleets must meet those requirements by 2003.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Charles V. Smith, who supports the new airport, said the nighttime restriction “looks promising.” He declined to comment on the elimination of the proposed curfew, saying he wanted to wait until the public has a chance to comment on the report.

Laguna Woods Mayor Bert Hack said he was disturbed by information in the report stating that only 2% of people in the affected areas will be awakened or have their sleep disturbed when planes land or depart late at night.

“They say it’s not a big deal, but if you’re the 2% it’s one hell of a big deal,” Hack said.

He said a recent study on the impact of late-night flights near Los Angeles International Airport indicated that, by interrupting the sleep of people 75 years and older, their life expectancy dropped by two years.

“This is a death sentence,” Hack said. “This report is filled with irresponsible statement after irresponsible statement.”

Aside from the noise, county officials said that a new El Toro airport would have few other environmental drawbacks. In fact, they said, air pollution and traffic would decrease in Southern California over the next 20 years because fewer Orange County airline passengers and cargo would be stuck in traffic heading to other airports.

If El Toro is not built and John Wayne not expanded, 80% of the passengers and cargo from Orange County would be driven to other airports in Southern California by 2020, said Brian Speegle, the El Toro environmental manager. With El Toro as an alternative, drivers would log 762,000 fewer miles on the road per year, Speegle said.

“Since vehicles are 98% of the development sources of [air pollution] emissions, you have a significant impact and reduction in emissions,” Speegle said.

Because the Orange County airports would also have state-of-the art terminal and runway designs, the aircraft could operate with maximum efficiency, he said.

County officials said two-thirds of cancer-causing compounds produced at most airports come from ground-service equipment, not the airplanes. The proposed airport hopes to use service equipment powered by alternative fuels, and to refuel airplanes with pipelines instead of tanker trucks, Speegle said.

Laguna Woods’ Hack also criticized county officials for releasing the lengthy study just before the Christmas holiday, saying it was a “cynical ploy” to thwart public interest and immediate review.

“Are these people really our political leaders, or people playing a gotcha game?” Hack said.

The public has until Feb. 22 to respond to the environmental review. The date was extended beyond the required 45 days because the report was released right before Christmas.

The first public hearing on the document will be held Jan. 19 at 5:30 p.m. at the county Hall of Administration, 10 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana.

Copies of the report are available at county libraries and at John Wayne Airport. A summary of the report and its technical sections can be found at www.eltoroairport.org.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Change of Plan

The county’s latest proposal for converting the former El Toro Marine base into a commercial airport would cost more, include more noise restrictions, and cause less vehicle traffic than its original 1996 plan.

1996 PLAN

TOTAL COST: $1.5 billion

PASSENGERS PER YEAR: 38.3 million

TAKEOFFS PER DAY: 612

NIGHT RESTRICTIONS: Curfews

NOISE-AFFECTED HOMES*: 65 CNEL-318; 60 CNEL-2,034

DAILY TRIPS TO/FROM AIRPORT: 305,240

CURRENT PROPOSAL

TOTAL COST: $2.9 billion

PASSENGERS PER YEAR: 28.8 million

TAKEOFFS PER DAY: 412

NIGHT RESTRICTIONS: Will ask FAA to restrict loudest planes