Newport Beach Residents Hope for Veto : Bill to Cut Airport Noise Suits Goes to Governor

SACRAMENTO — For the third time in three years, legislators Friday sent Gov. George Deukmejian a bill to protect California airports from repeated “harassment” lawsuits over jet noise.

A bipartisan, 49-21 Assembly majority gave final approval to the measure by Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove). Unless vetoed by the governor, the bill will prevent neighboring residents from suing airports more than once unless operations or noise levels “significantly change.”

But a veto is just what Newport Beach residents are hoping for, and they have history on their side. Deukmejian vetoed similar measures by Robinson in 1983 and 1984, and a spokeswoman in the governor’s office predicted Deukmejian will “look unfavorably” on this measure as well.

Court Actions

Both Newport city officials and residents have gone to court against the County of Orange over noise from county-run John Wayne Airport.

“The bill used to be very scary, but now it’s just become a continuous nuisance--a dangerous continuous nuisance, just like the airports,” said Barbara Lichman, executive director of the Airport Working Group of Orange County, a Newport Beach homeowners group.

However, Dan C. Wooldridge, executive assistant to Supervisors Chairman Ralph B. Clark, long a supporter of the measure, said he was confident that Robinson’s bill will wind up protecting Orange County and rid the courts of “frivolous suits.”

When Deukmejian vetoed Robinson’s first airport noise bill in 1983, he said he was “sympathetic” to problems faced by publicly owned airports but felt the solution to those problems should not “drastically limit the public’s access to the courts.”

Legislators who spoke in favor of Robinson’s bill urged that Deukmejian rethink the issue. Both Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan of Glendale, who are usually at odds on controversial issues, spoke in favor of Robinson’s bill.

“Under no circumstances does it bar a claim,” Brown said. “But it would bar you from . . . being able to go in and harass the airport . . . every time a PSA plane lands or a United takes off.”

The bill would overturn a 1985 ruling by the state Supreme Court that said that airport operations represent “the quintessential continuing nuisance.”

The bill was suggested by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which is seeking relief from hundreds of pending claims filed against John Wayne Airport. Similarly, airports in Burbank, San Francisco and San Diego have been bombarded with hundreds of lawsuits, many of them in Small Claims Court.

In 1982, many Newport Beach residents filed individual small claims suits against the airport, but the suits were consolidated in Superior Court and the litigants have not taken further action.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), an opponent, said Robinson’s bill is unfair because it does not take into account the impact airport operations have on property values.

Sees Value Rise

Even that issue is not simple. Jay Hollow, who lives at the corner of Acacia Street and Orchard Drive in Santa Ana Heights directly beneath the flight path, said the jet noise, in effect, is driving his property value up.

He said his mother bought the property 15 years ago knowing that the airport would expand and that this residential and agricultural neighborhood would be turned over to commercial developers.

The block he lives on was re-zoned for commercial buildings in March, and ‘every plane that goes overhead means we’re going to get richer,” Hollow said. “It’s a game of sit and wait for the right offer.”

“It’s somewhat of a nuisance, but you learn to live with it,” said Albert E. Rottmann, who lives in a county corridor between Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, southwest of the airport. Rottmann, 74, built his home 26 years ago, before commercial jets were allowed at John Wayne.

“It was supposed to be originally a private airport. Then they came along with commercial planes, but said no jets, just engine props,” he said. “Then they snuck in the commercial jets.”

In December, a settlement was reached among homeowners groups, the City of Newport Beach and Orange County about jet noise at John Wayne.

Homeowners Dropped Claims

Homeowners dropped their environmental claims against the airport and agreed to let the airport increase the passenger capacity of the facility. In exchange, the airport would substitute quieter jets for noisier ones and look for an alternative site.

Clarence J. Turner, president of the Airport Working Group, said the group is no longer interested in filing lawsuits against John Wayne but is eager to find an alternative site for the airport.

When the county and Newport officials settled their lawsuit last year, the county agreed to rescind its resolutions stating there were no feasible sites for a second Orange County regional airport. The county also agreed to resume its search for such an alternate airport site.

Kenneth F. Bunting reported from Sacramento and Lorena Oropeza from Newport Beach.