A Breakthrough LAX Plan

Nine years and $126 million after the city started planning a remodel, efforts to modernize Los Angeles International Airport remain as gridlocked as the passenger drop-off lane on a holiday weekend. Elected officials, the business community and those doomed to spend this and future Memorial Days stuck in airport snarls should jump at City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski’s bid to break the impasse.

Her “consensus plan,” unveiled at a public hearing Tuesday, divides Mayor James K. Hahn’s contentious $9-billion LAX remake into two phases, with the more controversial elements to be built later -- if at all.

The revised plan would green-light the Hahn projects that many nearby residents, the business community and most airlines agree are good ideas, such as a consolidated rental car center, additional express buses, a transit hub that links the Metro Green Line to the airport, and much-needed safety improvements to the south runways. It would postpone the demolition of parking structures in the central terminal area and the construction of a new terminal complex and a remote passenger check-in center until further studies confirmed they were needed and would increase security as promised.

Because the mayor’s plan is already so far along in the process, Miscikowski doesn’t call for scrapping the controversial parts altogether. To avoid more delays, the City Council would first adopt Hahn’s overall proposal, then impose Miscikowski’s more detailed “specific plan.”

This piggybacking of plans naturally raises a few concerns. Hahn’s plan has undergone lengthy environmental reviews, so city officials would have to make sure that changing the timeline on some projects would not hurt traffic and air-quality goals. And those who oppose big parts of Hahn’s plan would have to trust that the city would not later amend or toss out Miscikowski’s checks, particularly because voter-approved term limits will soon turn the councilwoman out of office.

Yes, the city has tinkered with the so-called specific plans in neighborhoods before. But the opposition to changes at LAX has been so strong over the years that substantial revision is unlikely in this case. Miscikowski’s proposal builds in safeguards, including a diverse oversight committee.

Miscikowski’s compromise is the best chance to fix an aging, congested airport that has not had a major remodel since Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Olympics. Its phasing of projects allows the city to move forward as it continues to analyze how passenger demand has changed since the Sept. 11 attacks and which new technologies will provide the best security.