Expansion talk infuriates pro-El Toro forces

Susan McCormack

Outrageous. Shocking. Inflammatory. Infuriating.

These are just some of the words pro-airport forces are using to

describe Assemblywoman Patricia Bates’ (R--Laguna Niguel) suggestion

Wednesday that John Wayne Airport could triple its size to accommodate a

projected 24-million passengers in 2020.

They’re also calling it one more thing: truthful.

“What we really see is what [South County’s] strategy has been all

along -- to expand John Wayne,” said Tom Edwards, a longtime airport

activist and member of the county’s El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission.

David Ellis, spokesman for the Newport Beach-based Airport Working

Group, agreed.

“As El Toro Reuse Planning Authority and South County cities try and

shift debate to garner support for the Safe and Healthy Communities

Initiative they’ve been saying we ought to use outlying airports,” he

said.

But Ellis said Bates’ words revealed a “repeated theme” that Irvine

council members Larry Agran and David Christensen and Mayor Christina

Shea also have brought up, then retracted from, in recent years.

The initiative, if approved in the March election, will require

two-thirds voter approval to expand or create new jails, airports and

hazardous waste landfills in the county. A Los Angeles County Superior

Court judge is hearing a suit today against the initiative, which

pro-airport forces are calling “unconstitutional.”

Chuck Smith, chair of the Board of Supervisors, said that Bates’ idea

has already been dismissed by the board.

“That’s been looked into and deemed unreasonably expensive,” Smith

said. “And it’s totally unfair to the people who live under the flight

path to bare the brunt of the projected passengers and cargo.”

Costa Mesa Councilman Joe Erickson agreed.

“It would have tremendous impacts on Costa Mesa and Newport Beach and

can not be tolerated,” he said.

Bates was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but her spokesman Trent

Smith said that Bates told him her comments were misconstrued.

“There was no way she was ‘touting’ that as an alternative,” Smith

said, referring to media coverage of the statements. “That’s like saying

she showed up with an agenda.”

Bates made her unpopular suggestion to expand John Wayne during a

five-hour Assembly committee meeting in Santa Ana on Tuesday, which was

attended by Smith. The meeting was hosted by Assemblyman Lou Correa

(D-Anaheim).

The committee, which also included Assemblyman Scott Wildman

(D-Glendale), will submit a report and recommendation to Gov. Gray Davis

in six to eight weeks, said Chris Leo, Correa’s chief of staff. The

report will concentrate on the increasing transportation challenges the

county is facing, Leo said, with special attention being paid to air

transportation.

Leo said that Correa disagrees with Bates’ comments, but will include

mention of them in the report.

“We were all shocked that she said ‘unconstrained John Wayne,”’ he

said. “I just don’t get it. The people in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa

have borne a lot of the costs associated with an airport and done it on

behalf of the county.”

He continued, “Don’t think we’re not going to put our two cents in

about the project. ... These [South County] people just don’t want

anything.”

Leo said he thinks that the governor will not get involved in the

heated El Toro debate. However, he said next year Davis’ office is

expected to concentrate on the state’s transportation needs, which will

include airports.