Newport Beach/Costa Mesa Daily Pilot
September 26, 1997
by Jennifer Armstrong, Daily Pilot

"Fighting airport noise proven a costly endeavor.

* Since 1981, Newport officials have shelled out $5.5 million to lobby for El Toro closure and place flight caps at John Wayne.

Saving local residents from too much airport noise and pollution has cost the city $5.5 million since 1981, from striking deals that limit John Wayne Airport flights to fighting for a second county airport at the El Toro Marine base.

A team of specialists, hired four months ago and led by local consultant Cora Newman, is making $15,000 per month to handle public relations and strategy to counter South County cities that oppose the airport plan, City Manager Kevin Murphy said. A crew of lobbyists in Washington D.C., for the past two years has been landing about $3,500 per month for their pro-airport efforts.

The pro-El Toro airport push, which took off in March 1993 when officials announced that the base would close in 1999, has come with a $1.3 million price tag. What exactly that money is buying, in terms of strategic moves, is a little cloudier than the finances -- city officials don’t like to reveal their battle plans.

“We can’t say specifically what we’re doing right now,” Murphy said. “It really will hurt us with South County.”

County supervisors voted in December to pursue making a commercial airport of the 4,700 acre base.

But neither side is about to let up: They’re watching closely as county officials are drafting plans for a two-airport system. And South County cities - which adamantly oppose putting an airport among their quiet communities - are devising their own alternative ideas for the site just east of Irvine.

Historically, Newport Beach’s biggest payouts in the name of quieter skies came during the 1980’s. Legal fees from 1981 through 1985 rang up a $2.3 million tab as the city and county worked out agreements that established flight caps and curfews at John Wayne until 2005.

Newport officials hope the $1.3 million spent now will provide for less turbulent times when those agreements expire. If a second commercial airport is underway at El Toro by that time, those hard-won limits might stay put, they say.

“It has always been a major priority”, said City Councilman Tom Edwards, a longtime airport issues activist. "