County Seeks U.S. Funds for Study of Airport Plan : Point Mugu: FAA supports analyzing joint use of Navy station. But officials disagree on who would manage facility.

Eager to accept the Navy’s offer to allow civilian flights at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Ventura County leaders are preparing to seek federal money to study the viability of a new commercial airport.

Peter Melia, a regional official with the Federal Aviation Administration, said Friday that a new Ventura County airport merits study because the federal agency wants to reduce flight congestion at airfields in neighboring Los Angeles County.

Melia also said the FAA supports the concept of opening military airstrips to commercial use, and is conducting similar studies elsewhere in the nation.

The FAA traditionally pays 90% of the expenses of such a feasibility study, which Ventura County leaders say could cost up to $150,000. If the study finds that sharing the Point Mugu runway makes economic and environmental sense, Melia said the federal government could also provide 90% of the money needed to build a commercial terminal.

“The FAA is in support of analyzing joint use,” Melia said. “It would help the aviation system in the Los Angeles Basin if it proved feasible to have expanded service in Ventura County.”

After 20 years of resisting the idea, Navy officials last month offered to share Point Mugu’s world-class 11,000-foot runway with commercial jets as a way to share base operating expenses.

Since then, city and county leaders have met twice with Point Mugu administrators to begin planning the project. Most of those attending the meetings have expressed support, saying a Point Mugu airport could give an economic boost to the county.

But disagreements have erupted over who should oversee the airport. And some elected officials believe proponents of the plan are moving too quickly.

“It really concerns me,” said Camarillo Mayor Charlotte Craven, who is worried about increased flight noise over east Camarillo. She also is concerned about a greater potential for an air disaster as the skies over central Ventura County become more crowded.

“I’m trying to keep an open mind, but what keeps creeping in is that this is not a good idea,” Craven said.

Still, Craven acknowledges that her views are in the minority on a special airport planning committee organized since the Navy made its offer exactly one month ago. The committee is composed of nine city, county and Navy officials.

Capt. Paul Valovich, commanding officer at Point Mugu, said the Navy retains veto power over the shared-runway proposal but wants the commercial airport plans to come from community leaders. Valovich is a non-voting member of the local committee that is evaluating the idea.

He said the Navy’s only restrictions are that the commercial terminal cannot be on Navy property and that civilian flights cannot interfere with military operations or base security. The commercial terminal tentatively would be built just outside the base, connected to the runway by a taxiway.

“I’m very optimistic,” Valovich said after attending planning sessions. “Of course, the folks that have been involved so far probably have a long-range vision and an interest in the economic welfare of the county. . . . The people who are anti-growth or who perceive environmental and noise concerns have yet to be heard from.”

Valovich said the interagency committee had set up 11 separate research groups to study a variety of issues, such as economic and environmental impacts, financing and connections with freight carriers.

A key question is who would run the proposed Point Mugu commercial airport.

One prospect is the Ventura County Department of Airports, which operates Oxnard and Camarillo airports and is under the jurisdiction of the county Board of Supervisors.

But the cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme and the Oxnard Harbor District are also talking about forming a new Port/Airport Authority to oversee civilian flights from Point Mugu.

Port Hueneme City Manager Dick Velthoen said he favors putting the airport in the hands of such an agency rather than the county.

“The county’s management of Camarillo Airport has stifled economic opportunities there,” he said. “They have been too sensitive to political considerations. There’s a fear that they would do the same thing with this opportunity.”

But Marshall MacKinen, the county’s airports administrator, said he believes his department is best equipped to manage the proposed airport.

“We’re under constraints from the city of Camarillo that limit the amount of development that we can do (at Camarillo Airport),” he said. “They can’t say we haven’t been aggressive.”

Ventura County Supervisor Maggie Kildee said a countywide panel, such as the Board of Supervisors or the Ventura County Transportation Commission, would be better suited to oversee the airport than neighboring cities with a narrow perspective.

“If this is simply run by people whose only interest is the economic impact and nothing else, then that’s not in the best interest of the whole county,” she said.