·  In exchange for area communities dropping their lawsuits, most of the latest plan will be shelved. Rebuilding of a runway will proceed.

By Jennifer Oldham, Times Staff Writer

After 11 years and $150 million in design costs, the city has shelved its latest plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport and will start over to craft a proposal that will do more to improve security and refurbish the aging facility.

The plan had drawn criticism from the city's new mayor, poor reviews from security experts and lawsuits by airport-area residents. All but one of its elements will be reconsidered and some of the most controversial, including a check-in center near the San Diego Freeway, are almost certainly dead.

The airport intends to begin work early next year on the one project still on track: the $300-million rebuilding of the southern runway complex, which federal officials maintain is critical to preventing close calls between aircraft. It will be the first major construction at the 77-year-old airport in more than two decades.

The city consented to review the $11-billion modernization effort in exchange for a promise from airport-area communities to drop federal and state lawsuits that challenged the plan and could have prevented work on the runways.

As part of the deal, Los Angeles also agreed to try to slow passenger growth at LAX, study how to spread air traffic around the region, explore ways to cut congestion, and speed up efforts to reduce noise and air pollution.

The settlement allows the city to overhaul the outdated Tom Bradley International Terminal and install explosives detection machines in the airport's complex baggage system. These projects are separate from the modernization plan.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who opposed many of the major elements of the plan, will now have an opportunity to remake predecessor James K. Hahn's controversial blueprint for LAX.

The city and county of Los Angeles, three cities near the airport, residents and a small army of attorneys spent weeks negotiating the legal settlement, which will be announced today at a news conference on the tarmac.

"This is an extraordinary achievement," said Lydia Kennard, who is the new executive director of the agency that operates LAX and was instrumental in bringing about the deal. "This is heralding a new level of cooperation and trust between the parties."

Residents and politicians also lauded the deal, which was described to reporters in a briefing Wednesday, calling it "historic."

"For many, many years, it seemed very much a David and Goliath uphill battle, with not a lot of support from politicians and broken promises," said Jennifer Dakoske Koslu, president of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion, a residents group. "It seemed like we were never going to succeed. I think we're all very pleased with the settlement."

Villaraigosa, who was widely credited with bringing the feuding parties together, hopes the agreement will placate airport-area residents, who despised the LAX expansion plan drafted by Mayor Richard Riordan and the revision offered by Hahn.

Jaime de la Vega, deputy mayor for transportation, said Villaraigosa made a campaign promise to settle the lawsuit. "He wanted to put this behind the city," De la Vega said.

On Sept. 29, the mayor called airport officials, politicians, residents and their respective attorneys to a meeting in an airport boardroom and asked that they set aside their differences. Nine weeks later, after many hours of intense negotiation, they signed the preliminary pact.

Settlement participants said Wednesday that the mayor could not have accomplished his goal without the help of Kennard, his hand-picked airport director, who immediately began attending the negotiating sessions after she started at Los Angeles World Airports on Oct. 8. Kennard had been the city's airport director before, from 1999 to 2003.

The deal must still be ratified by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion, Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, El Segundo, Inglewood and Culver City.

Local lawmakers said they were confident that their city councils and the county Board of Supervisors — most of which have received closed-session briefings on the agreement — would approve the deal.

"I think they will see the good in this for our city, just as I do," said El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell. "Everybody benefits, everybody gave a little and everybody got a lot."

McDowell and others hope FAA officials will decide within days not to contest the deal.

Donn Walker, an FAA spokesman, said: "We will review this agreement, but we won't be able to comment on it until we've looked at it."

Despite optimism that federal officials will approve the deal, airlines object to one of the most controversial elements — a plan to decrease the number of gates where airplanes park from 163 to 153.

"There are a number of complexities associated with the settlement agreement that was reached without airline input," said David A. Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Assn., an airline trade group. "We will conduct a careful and thorough review of the agreement."
Carriers do not support a reduction in airplane parking spots, he said. The cash-strapped airlines would be required to pay up to half the costs of modernizing LAX through higher rents and landing fees. Federal grants and fees paid by passengers would make up most of the rest.

Even so, airlines said they support the plan to move the southernmost runway 55 feet closer to El Segundo, widening the distance between the two parallel runways enough to create a central taxiway. Airport officials said the work should not delay flights.

They said the settlement also allows them to begin construction next year on several other projects. One of these is the $410-million upgrade of the Tom Bradley terminal that includes expanded gates for the massive 555-seat Airbus A380.

Also on deck is a $400-million project to overhaul the airport's complex baggage system and install explosives-detection machines.

"We're not losing any time," said Paul Haney, an airport spokesman. "We'll be improving the airport while we figure out what our next project will be."

To devise a new plan, airport officials will meet with residents and airlines to come up with projects that will improve security at LAX and update its worn-out terminals.

Rand Corp. experts have criticized the check-in center, saying it would make travelers more vulnerable to a terrorist attack. And passengers have long viewed the airport as one of the nation's most inconvenient and unkempt such facilities.

Several projects in the modernization plan, including a new terminal on the western edge that would replace the remote gates near the sand dunes and a consolidated rental car facility, are seen as likely contenders for any new plan.

But some of the most controversial proposals put forward by Hahn — including the check-in center and the demolition of Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and of parking garages in the central terminal area — are considered moribund.

Airport officials will not acknowledge this directly, however, because the massive check-in center must remain in play, at least on paper, to make the traffic analysis work in environmental studies.

If the city officially killed some projects, it might have to go through the lengthy environmental review process again.

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes the airport, said the projects "that are bad, we're going to replace them, we're going to have alternatives."

In the settlement, the city also agreed to:

•  Take steps to contain passenger growth if LAX serves 75 million passengers in 2010. If that threshold is reached, the airport will eliminate two gates a year for five years, reducing the total number to 153. LAX expects to handle 62 million passengers this year.

•  Invite the FAA, the Southern California Assn. of Governments, airport operators and area counties to develop a plan to encourage airlines to spread air traffic among the region's airports, including Ontario International and the Palmdale facility, both of which the city of Los Angeles operates.

•  Accelerate the disbursement of up to $240 million to soundproof homes in unincorporated Los Angeles County areas, El Segundo and Inglewood.

•  Begin a traffic study to figure out how to unlock congestion on roads around the airport and ask the FAA to allow the airport to fund up to $3.3 million in intersection and roadway improvements in El Segundo and $33 million in improvements to the Century Boulevard corridor in Inglewood.

•  Ensure that myriad measures to ease traffic, air pollution and noise that were included in a separate agreement with residents don't fall by the wayside. These include the conversion of ground equipment at LAX to low-emissions technology and providing electricity to gates where airplanes park.

•  Reconsider extending the Metro Rail Green Line to LAX.

•  And spend $3 million to remove abandoned asphalt streets on the dunes west of the airport and replace them with native plants.

For all its complexity, airport officials said, one of the most important things about the deal is that it allows them to start construction at LAX for the first time since the upper-level roadway and the Tom Bradley terminal were built in preparation for the 1984 Olympics.

"We got there," said Kennard. "No one ever thought we could get there."

Provide $266 million to Los Angeles County, Inglewood, El Segundo and other affected areas for noise and traffic mitigation. _______________________________________

LAX Runway Plan Lands With a Thud

Los Angeles Times

September 17, 2005

By Jennifer Oldham, Times Staff Writer

Airport officials have failed to adequately address increased noise and cancer risks during construction to move the southernmost runway at Los Angeles International Airport, residents of nearby communities charge.

The project's lengthy environmental study also does not include measures to lessen the effects of the additional air pollution caused when airplanes taxi farther and idle longer while the runway is shut down, according to comments that residents and their attorneys submitted to Los Angeles World Airports, the city's airport department.

Arguing that the health risks diminish the residents' quality of life and could shorten their lives, attorney Berne C. Hart wrote that the airport department "must commit to mitigating these impacts to the maximum extent feasible." Hart represents Los Angeles County, Inglewood and Culver City.

The comment period on the 1,370-page environmental study ended Thursday, with the agency receiving 22 letters totaling about 275 pages. State law requires the city to study and mitigate the project's effects on surrounding areas.

The comments ranged from highly technical legal opinions to handwritten notes.

The agency is required to address the comments in a final document, to be released later this year.

The Airport Commission and City Council must approve the environmental study before work can start on the runway.

The project will move the runway 55 feet closer to El Segundo and install a parallel taxiway between the two runways in an effort to reduce the possibility of aircraft collisions.

More than 80% of close calls at LAX occur on the south side when a pilot who has landed on the outer runway fails to stop on taxiways that cross the inner runway and comes too close to airplanes that are taking off.

Officials hope to begin construction early next year and expect the project to take 26 months. The runway will be closed for eight months; airport officials say it will not cause any disruption to travelers.

The effort is the first in a series of major updates planned for the airport in the next decade.

Several themes ran through the comments, including the contention that the environmental study significantly understates noise, air pollution, health and traffic problems that the construction will cause.

Consultants also failed to analyze the long-term effects of reconfiguring the south runway and how operations of the massive 555-seat Airbus A380 — expected to begin flying into LAX in 2007— would affect surrounding neighborhoods, according to the letters.

Moving the runway "seems to be an enlargement of LAX primarily to serve the Airbus A380," wrote Linda Peterson, chairwoman of the Los Angeles International Airport Advisory Committee. If Los Angeles World Airports "is truly seeking a regional approach, we would expect more of an effort to route these new large aircraft to Ontario or Palmdale."

The city of Los Angeles also operates Ontario International Airport and Palmdale Airport.

The document has "persistent flaws" and buries readers "under mountains of paper," wrote Robert S. Perlmutter and Gabriel M.B. Ross, attorneys for the city of El Segundo.

El Segundo, Inglewood, Culver City, the county and airport-area residents have sued the city of Los Angeles charging that environmental studies for the entire $11-billion LAX modernization plan also understate the effects of noise, air pollution and traffic.

On Friday, airport officials sent a letter to attorneys for El Segundo denying a request to extend the comment period for the south runway environmental study. El Segundo's attorneys had asked for a 30-day extension, saying that airport officials failed to provide information they wanted on the project's effects on air quality in a timely manner.

Comments received by the agency this week argue that the runway study is poorly written and violates state law because it fails to discuss alternatives to moving the runway.

"The document is difficult to read," wrote Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) in a seven-page letter. "It relies excessively on acronyms. It is replete with technical jargon that goes unexplained."

Residents and attorneys also questioned whether the city's airport agency had enough evidence to show that moving the runway 55 feet would markedly improve safety at LAX, because pilots would still cross the inner runway from the center taxiway.

"Clearly, a massive project that will cost over a quarter-billion dollars and not remove the underlying problem that initiated it should bear close examination," wrote A. Dwight Abbott, mayor of Palos Verdes Estates.

County officials also demanded in a letter that the City Council take another vote on the LAX modernization plan.

The county Airport Land Use Commission ruled in August 2004 that the proposal would create more noise and safety risks in nearby communities, making it inconsistent with a 1991 county land-use plan. Under state law, the 15-member City Council had to muster a 10-vote supermajority to override the finding — which it did in December.

Now, the county argues its Airport Land Use Commission had the authority under state law to accept an appeal from El Segundo. In its appeal, El Segundo argued that the city's plan will allow LAX to grow to serve 89 million annual passengers and fails to spread air traffic growth to other airports in the region. The county commission ruled in favor of El Segundo's appeal and contends that the City Council is required to secure a 12-vote majority to override that decision.

The city disagrees.

"It is our position, and has been for some time, that the commission doesn't have the authority to take the action they have taken," said Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for the city attorney's office. "The council doesn't have to take another vote."

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COMMUNITY CALL TO ACTION
 - PLEASE CONTACT CITY ATTORNEY ROCKY DELGADILLO-
 IN SUPPORT OF VAL VELASCO'S NOMINATION TO THE
BOARD OF AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS – BOAC

TO CONCERNED RESIDENTS AGAINST LAX EXPANSION:

Mayor Villaraigosa recently nominated Val Velasco, our long time Westchester/Playa del Rey friend and community advocate against LAX expansion, to the Board of Airport Commissioners.

Pro airport expansionists are fighting back to block her appointment.  It is important that we respond by phone and/or e-mail!!!!!

Val has worked tirelessly and without compensation for years to save LAX impacted areas from numerous airport expansion plans that would negatively impact all of us, our families, and the City of L.A. as well as surrounding communities for years to come.  She has fought for a regional transportation plan that would relieve the over burdening of LAX from increased passenger capacity, improve airport safety, help address environmental concerns and target future growth to Ontario and Palmdale airports.

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo not only plans to review Val’s appointment to determine whether she can serve as a commissioner; he now wants to review the Alliance for Regional Solutions to Airport Congestion (ARSAC) organization’s bylaws, too.

Like many of you, I have known Val personally for years and am a member of ARSAC and have supported their efforts and vision for a regional airline transportation system.  Airport expansionists and the not-smart developers have hurt the environment for far too long!!!!!

We need Val, with her unblemished integrity and expertise, to represent us on the Board of Airport Commissioners.

I URGE YOU TO TELEPHONE/E-MAIL CITY ATTORNEY DELGADILLO AT: (213) 978-8100 - rdelgadillo@atty.lacity.org   TELL CITY ATTORNEY DELGADILLO YOU SUPPORT VAL’S APPOINTMENT TO THE BOARD OF AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS!

 

Don’t hesitate, please call/e-mail today.  We all have a vested interest in Val representing us on the Board of Airport Commissioners.

Thank you,

               Sheila Mickelson

 P.S.  Please forward this to your e-mail contacts.