Airport Site Coalition Adds 3 Locations to Its Study List

When more than 100 Orange County residents gathered to discuss the subject of airports Saturday, Irvine resident Sandy Simon told them she didn’t “know what makes me more nervous--choosing a site for an airport or going to buy my son’s first car today.”

Simon represented the participants in one of 19 discussion groups, all of which had just finished talking about such issues as airport noise, wind shear, availability of airspace and market demand for airline service.

The meeting, held in Irvine, was the fourth in a series of sessions set up by the Airport Site Coalition, a group of volunteers representing civic and business organizations. The coalition was authorized by the Board of Supervisors to find a site for a new airport in Orange County that would supplement John Wayne Airport.

The task is formidable. More than a dozen earlier studies have resulted in declarations by the Board of Supervisors that no feasible site exists within the county’s boundaries.

But the task is taking on new significance for several reasons, including:

* A 1985 agreement between Newport Beach and the county that allowed the current expansion project at John Wayne Airport to go forward. The settlement limited the airport’s future passenger capacity and required the supervisors to seek a location for a new airport.

Mandated Participation

* The Southern California Regional Airport Authority, which Orange County has refused to join, is drafting legislation to be introduced in Sacramento early next year that would empower it to find, raise money for and develop new regional airport facilities in Orange and Ventura counties. The bill also would mandate Orange County’s participation.

* The Airport Site Coalition has been able to find two sites in southern Orange County that have never been considered in previous studies. Those sites are Christianitos Canyon east of San Clemente, about 5 miles north of Camp Pendleton, and Portrero Los Pinos, a semi-plateau in the Cleveland National Forest northwest of Ortega Highway.

Information presented at Saturday’s meeting showed that building at either site would require massive, costly grading to remove hilltop obstacles. Still, coalition officials said the sites have survived a preliminary technical screening, which means no adverse weather or ground-related problems have been found.

Environmental groups are expected to oppose the sites because they are in undeveloped areas. The Christianitos Canyon site, which is along the planned route of the Foothill toll road, is on privately owned Rancho Mission Viejo property.

No cost estimates for developing either site are available yet.

Meanwhile, a third possible site was disclosed by coalition officials Saturday: Signal Peak, in the San Joaquin Hills above Crystal Cove State Park between Irvine and the ocean.

The Signal Peak site was studied and abandoned 20 years ago, but coalition officials said it will be considered again, partly because of the development of new, quieter aircraft and the advent of aircraft capable of short takeoffs and landings, as well as planes that can lift off vertically.

The three new proposals bring to 24 the number of potential sites on the coalition’s list, including such controversial locations as the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center. Homeowner groups have formed in opposition to such sites.

But the coalition staff on Saturday recommended that four of the 24 sites be eliminated from further consideration due to construction and wind-shear problems. They are Santiago Canyon, east of Orange and Tustin; Bell Canyon, near San Juan Capistrano; Mesa de Colorado in southeast Riverside County, and a northern section of Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.

No formal vote was taken, but most people who attended Saturday’s session agreed that those four sites should be dropped.

The coalition is using an experimental, consensus-building strategy in which residents invited to attend sessions are divided into small groups that help determine the specific criteria for any airport site. The coalition then will see if any sites satisfy the criteria, which may include political considerations and such issues as air pollution, air safety and noise.

“Every site will have opposition from some quarter,” said Al Bell, one of the coordinators of Saturday’s meeting. “But after all of this, we’ve been able to come up with two new sites that nobody looked at before, and that’s something.”

The coalition’s next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 21 at Fluor Daniel’s headquarters in Irvine.

PROPOSED AIRPORT SITES Airport sites under consideration:

Los Angeles Harbor.

U.S. Naval Weapons Station, Seal Beach.

Armed Forces Reserve Center, Los Alamitos (joint-use).

Armed Forces Reserve Center, Los Alamitos (all-civilian use).

Chino Hills.

El Toro Marine Corps Air Station (joint-use).

El Toro Marine Corps Air Station (all-civilian use).

Southern Camp Pendleton.

Northern Camp Pendleton

Lakeview Mountains.

March Air Force Base Offset.

March Air Force Base (all-civilian use).

Norton Air Force Base (joint-use).

Norton Air Force Base (all-civilian use).

Jarupa Hills.

Chino Airport.

Santa Monica Bay.

Bolsa Bay.

Santiago Canyon

Bell Canyon

Mesa de Colorado

Three newly proposed sites:

Potrero Los Pinos.

Signal Peak.

Cristianitos Canyon.