Newport Will Try to Extend Curfew on John Wayne Airport

With plans for an airport at El Toro still uncertain, the city of Newport Beach will redouble its efforts to extend curfew and flight restrictions at John Wayne Airport through the end of 2025.

Three months ago, Newport Beach Mayor John Noyes said he and the City Council would urge the Orange County Board of Supervisors to extend terms of a 1985 agreement, which was to expire in 2005.

The proposed extension to be considered by the City Council would keep existing limits on the airport. The agreement allowed operations only from 7 a.m. through 11 p.m. It also capped the number of flights at 73 daily departures and the annual number of passengers at 8.4 million.

The council’s first step in trying to keep the restrictions in place will be a resolution urging the Orange County Board of Supervisors to support the plan.

However, it may not be so easy, or legal, to extend the agreement. Federal laws passed since 1985 prohibit regional airport restrictions, such as the curfew and the limits on certain aircraft that are imposed at John Wayne, according to San Francisco attorney Clem Shutewill, who counsels the city on airport issues.

The city also will arrange for environmental studies required by state law. City officials will meet with the John Wayne Airport director, surrounding cities and other interested parties.

“I think this is absolutely where the focus of energy should be right now,” said former Newport Beach mayor Tom Edwards, who helped secure the original agreement. “We’ve got to take care of ourselves first. I still believe El Toro is a solution.”

However, other airport watchers say the city will need support from anti-El Toro activists.

“In 1985, the city of Irvine sued to stop the settlement from occurring,” warned Dave Ellis, of the Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group, which worked on the agreement. Ellis added that despite the long road ahead, the organization would stand behind the council’s effort.

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South County residents who oppose an airport at El Toro have long said they would help Newport Beach in its efforts to keep limits at John Wayne--on one condition.

“[The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority] applauds and supports that effort and we hope they will then join us,” said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for the coalition of South County cities. “We have offered to help them in that effort, providing they help us. We think it would be the height of hypocrisy to get their restrictions and then impose an airport [at El Toro] on our community.”

Legal experts say Newport Beach also could face opposition from some airlines that would prefer any lifting of restrictions that would expand airport operations.