Coalition Seeks Deal on LAX Fallout

A coalition of community, environmental and religious groups is negotiating with the city’s airport agency for hundreds of millions of dollars in community improvements in exchange for its support of modernizing Los Angeles International Airport.

The 18 groups, as well as several school districts and labor unions, are seeking new schools, a mobile health clinic and extensive job training programs in a precedent-setting deal that would require the approval of federal aviation officials.

The deal is intended to keep the community groups from challenging airport plans in court, but could also complicate Mayor James K. Hahn’s efforts to sell his $9-billion LAX plan to the City Council later this year.

The council will have to weigh this agreement against other demands for mitigation from neighborhoods and cities, such as El Segundo, near the airport.

“We’re trying to avoid a knock-down, drag-out brawl,” said Joe Lyou, executive director of the California Environmental Rights Alliance.

Residents who live near the airport hope the agreement will help alleviate the noise, air pollution and traffic that plague communities ringing LAX.

“This community has been so heavily burdened, it deserves improvement,” said Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza, policy director for Environmental Defense and a coalition organizer. “They deserve the jobs and they deserve the sound mitigation for their children and they deserve to breathe clean air.”

Airport officials, acting at Hahn’s behest, see the deal as a way to reach an understanding with communities that have historically opposed airport expansion. “We want to make friends out there every bit as much as they want to be friendly,” said Jim Ritchie, a deputy executive director at the city’s airport agency.

The deal, known as a community benefits agreement, would be the largest of its kind in the country and would start as soon as federal officials approve an airport modernization plan.

But there could be significant roadblocks to an agreement.

The Federal Aviation Administration must sign off on any deal that would require the city’s airport agency to spend its money, which is separate from the city’s general fund, on projects off airport grounds.

The agreement is also likely to raise concerns among the airlines, which would be required to pay for about half of any modernization plan through higher landing fees and terminal rents.

Doug Wills, a spokesman for the Air Transport Assn., an industry trade group, said that he had not reviewed the proposal, but that it sounded as if it could violate federal laws against diverting airport revenue.

“When you start talking about community grants, that goes well beyond what is allowed by the Department of Transportation,” he said.

Airport officials concede that asking the FAA to approve some of the things could be a long shot.

“I’m cautiously optimistic in some areas; where I think there’s gray, we could encourage the FAA to look at it in a different light,” said Philip J. Depoian, senior advisor on aviation to the mayor.

Among the key elements being negotiated, according to documents obtained by The Times, are:

* A request by the Lennox School District for about $190 million to build high schools and gyms, rebuild several elementary schools and soundproof schools.

* A mobile health clinic stocked with medical supplies and staffed by several doctors and healthcare workers to serve communities around LAX.

* A universal shuttle program that would replace shuttles used by parking garages and hotels and would be funded by fees assessed on these businesses.

* A requirement that all businesses operating ground service vehicles at LAX convert to alternative fuels or electrical power.

* An initiative to help residents apply for airport jobs and assist local, minority and women-owned businesses.

* A series of studies to create an inventory of jet fuel emissions and other toxic substances released into the air by airport operations.

Some groups that have participated in the negotiations -- including the Inglewood Democratic Club, the Los Angeles Council of Churches and the Natural Resources Defense Council -- say that uniting has given them more legitimacy with city officials.

“Our interest in joining the coalition was making sure our voice was actually heard. Often we’ve had a lone voice that doesn’t carry a lot of clout,” said Bruce McDaniel, superintendent of the Lennox School District. “Our issue primarily has to do with the effect of noise on learning. There are studies that prove that kids growing up in schools that are adjacent to airports have learning loss.”

Agreements like the one being forged between the Los Angeles airport agency and community groups are rare, but not unheard of.

In Boston, the agency that operates Logan International Airport has spent $41.6 million to pay for green space and a 6.5-acre park near Logan, affordable day care, youth recreation and athletic opportunities.

Denver’s airport agency installed an extensive noise monitoring system at Denver International Airport and agreed to pay a penalty to Aurora County if annual noise levels exceeded certain thresholds.

Community groups in Los Angeles hope that the agreement with the city’s airport agency will have as much teeth as the Denver deal. The Los Angeles agreement, they say, would give residents stronger grounds to sue if the airport didn’t mitigate negative impacts of construction on surrounding communities.

“What we’re concerned about is enforceability,” said Nancy Cohen, a senior policy analyst at the L.A. Alliance for a New Economy and a coalition member.

The airport agency and community representatives are optimistic about the chances for an agreement, saying that they’re 80% to 90% there.

“There’s a necessity to get political buy-in, which gives communities leverage to say a development of this sort must be accountable to the community,” Cohen said.

“It must include a place at the table for people who are really, truly impacted,” Cohen said.