The El Toro airport issue has been one path occupied by two
                           groups with totally opposite plans for reuse. Unfortunately,
                      the path is not wide enough to accommodate both plans, so the
                      political tug of war continues.
                           There is another way to look at the issue by which everyone can
                      win. The Millennium Plan is just another "city" whose elements
                      easily can be relocated. What cannot be so easily relocated in
                      Orange County is an international airport. To remain competitive in
                      the future, a balance of all key elements must be maintained. Air
                      transportation is one of those elements.
                           What the county's proposed commercial airport plan currently
                      has against it is both feasibility and negative impacts. How
                      communities will be affected depends on the noise contour used.
                           Residents of Lake Forest, Foothill Ranch, Portola Hills, a small
                      portion of Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Dove Canyon
                      and Irvine, as well as Laguna Woods and Aliso Viejo, will be
                      adversely affected by the county's proposed plan, which includes
                      east/west and north/south "X-configured" runways. Who wants to
                      live in sound-proofed houses with closed windows?
                           We are proposing abandoning the problems within the plan
                      without abandoning the airport. The compromise solution is to
                      eliminate all potential noise impacts to all existing residential
                      communities surrounding El Toro's flight paths, as well as design an
                      airport that outperforms the county's plan.
                           This can be accomplished only by reorienting the runways. Our
                      proposed "V configuration" is a widely spaced, dual runway design
                      that efficiently operates as two independent runways with new flight
                      paths that adversely affect no one. After our lobbying effort, it is
                      now accepted as a proposed alternative option in the county's El
                      Toro Airport Master Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report.
                           The Federal Aviation Administration will choose the plan that fits
                      effortlessly within airspace parameters and can safely handle the
                      proposed demands with no conflict with arriving/departing flight
                      patterns. Negatives such as intersecting runways and taxiways,
                      limited takeoff performance due to precipitous terrain, and spacing
                      between runways all affect safety.
                           Our proposal conforms to FAA and pilots' concerns and
                      requirements, and works in harmony with John Wayne Airport's air
                      traffic. Our flight patterns for landing over Loma Ridge from the
                      north and departing into the southwest have been proved feasible.
                      The design proposes one new runway with departure directly over
                      the Laguna Freeway, and to extend one existing north/south runway
                      to enable primary landings to the south, which also serves as a
                      secondary departure runway.
                           Unlike the county's proposed four-crossed runways
                      configuration, which operates as a single runway operation due to
                      closely spaced intersecting parallel runways, the V configuration
                      allows for simultaneous departures into the southwest, and can
                      operate without curfews with no adverse effects to residents.
                           What currently exists is a southwest three-mile-wide swath of
                      open land, and a vast expanse of open space to the north. We are
                      fortunate to have all this open space in which to propose flight
                      paths. But in doing so, we are asking the Irvine Co. to make
                      adjustments to its development projects that have been planned but
                      are not yet approved.
                           To keep all future residential villages out of unsafe noise
                      contours, the proposed projects in the southwest near Quail Hill,
                      Turtle Rock and Laguna Woods would need to be relocated and/or
                      rearranged. Planned developments in the hillside north of
                      Northwood and around Irvine Lake would require minor changes.
                           The existing Irvine residential villages as well as those currently
                      under development and being sold are all more than a mile and a
                      half away from the proposed flight paths, including the newest Oak
                      Creek development. That means it is safe to continue touting
                      Irvine's villages as safe and healthy.
                           We realize we are asking a lot. Our entire compromise solution
                      is riding on the wings of not what Irvine wants but what the Irvine
                      Co. sanctions. We are aware of the prominence of the Irvine Co.'s
                      development surrounding El Toro.
                           The cost for our proposal is considerably less than the county's
                      plan. We have a rough cost of $100 million to $120 million for
                      runways, extensions, taxiways, grading and bridges. Our
                      dual-runway plan costs $20 million to $29 million less than the
                      county's proposed plan to reconstruct the four unsafe and inefficient
                      intersecting runways/taxiways.
                           Our proposal can only be an asset to the city of Irvine and the
                      county. We are confident the county will replace its X configuration
                      with our V configuration. Give it time.

Editor:- The writers assume that there is demand for additional capacity that can not be met by existing airports.  While considering noise, they do not consider traffic, air pollution and urban blight that accompanies an airport.

Click here for a letter from the Irvine Company, opposing the plan.

Click here for negative reaction from a commercial airline pilot.

Revised July 4, 2001