Opponents Challenge Van Nuys Aiport Plan

About 250 people, most speaking against developing 113 acres at Van Nuys Airport for aviation use, made their voices heard Wednesday evening at a public hearing on the airport’s proposed master plan, which will dictate the future of the nation’s busiest general-aviation facility.

A number of residents expressed concern that more development would mean an increase in noise and also hurt their property values. Those in favor of the development said it is needed for the economic health of the area and that noise issues can be solved with improvements in technology.

“The majority of these people want no expansion, no increase in jets, no increase in helicopters. That’s got to be put in the master plan. Now it’s absent,” Gerald Silver, who heads Stop the Noise!, a coalition of 28 homeowners groups, said before the meeting.

But James Stewart, vice chairman of the Van Nuys Airport Advisory Council said it’s not a question of expanding the airport, but using land that’s already set aside for that purpose.

“My concern is if we don’t accommodate the need, the economic impact in the community is going to be very significant. Every jet is seven or eight jobs,” Stewart said.

City planner Marc Woersching, who sat and listened as people on both sides spoke, has said that public comments will be taken into consideration before planning officials make recommendations to two area planning committees.

The master plan, initiated by the Los Angeles City Council nine years ago, lays out 13 scenarios on how to use the undeveloped land at the airport. An environmental impact report has detailed possibilities ranging from developing all the land to closing the airport and using the 730 acres for commercial buildings and homes.

Los Angeles World Airports, formerly the city’s Department of Airports, released a so-called “compromise alternative” in 1997 that favored developing 70 of the 113 undeveloped acres for aviation and 43 acres for other uses.

The next step for the master plan is consideration by the county Airport Land Use Commission, which will recommend one of the 13 suggested scenarios.

In the spring, the plan will go to the South Valley and North Valley area planning commissions. The Board of Airport Commissioners and the city planning commission will then consider the plan before it goes to the mayor and two City Council committees. It will finally go to the full council later this year or early next.

The 73-year-old airport contributes $1.2 billion a year and more than 10,000 jobs to the economic well-being of the San Fernando Valley.

Silver has said his group wants a limit of no more than 107 jets and 44 helicopters at the airport, the numbers it held in 1996. In 1999, the most current year available, there were 128 jets and 65 helicopters based at the airport.

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Times staff writer Stephanie Stassel contributed to this story.