EIR 573

The December 23, 1999 Environmental Impact Report
(This page will be updated as additional information is released.)

• Click here for the text of the EIR.
• Click here for a history of the changing airport plans.
• Flight paths for area airports.
• Click here for EIR 573  pages from the County website.
• Go to Highlights.

How to submit comments or questions on the EIR.

Submissions preferably should be in the form of questions.  State law requires that questions must be answered by the County.

Be specific:  why, where, how, when, who?  Give an exact citation from the EIR, if possible. If not, ask questions anyway.

Ask open ended questions that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.
Examples:
1. How did the authors arrive at this conclusion described on pages XYZ, section ABC? Was a study done to analyze these conclusions? If yes, when was it conducted? By whom? Under what conditions? If a study was not done, why not?  What are the standards used in the industry for this kind of study?
2. How are the conclusions of the EIR, reported on pages RST, section EFG compared to the industry standards?
3. How common are the proposed mitigations, described on pages MNO, section HIJ? Please provide examples of where such mitigations have been implemented, describing in details the conditions before and after the proposed mitigations were applied. If no such examples exist, why do the authors propose them?

Submit by e-mail to:  EIR573@ceo.hoa.co.orange.ca.us   A copy will go to the ETRPA lawyers (they may be able to use your question in possible future legal action).  You might also want to specifiy a Return Receipt on your email, so you'll be notified when the county receives your e-mail.   Be sure to keep copies of all questions you submit.

or in writing to:

     County of Orange
     El Toro Master Development Program
     Attn: Mr. Bryan Speegle
     10 Civic Center Plaza, Second Floor
     Santa Ana, CA 92701

Deadline for comments:  February 22, 2000 at 5:00 PM

EIR highlights.
 

• For data on aviation use projections seeWho Will Use the Airports.

• The cost of the new airport has nearly doubled from previous estimates.

• The first phase of the airport would cost an estimated $993.4 million, with two-thirds of the money coming from bonds sold based on anticipated airport revenues, such as airline landing fees.

• The County expects to sell $137.6 million of bonds on July 1, 2001 by "leveraging" $10 million of annual Passenger Facilities Charges at John Wayne.  (EIR Financial Analysis Sect. 10.3.2)

• The runways would remain largely as they now are, though they would require $99.3 million in improvements in the first five years.

• The report contains the county's first admission that a new airport would generate significant jet noise for large numbers of residents in South County, particularly at night and in the communities of Laguna Woods, Aliso Viejo and Portola Hills. In the past, county officials classified the noise as insignificant.

• Laguna Woods Mayor Bert Hack said he was disturbed by information in the report stating that only 2-5% of people in the affected areas will be awakened or have their sleep disturbed when planes land or depart late at night.

• To reduce the impact of noise on nearby neighborhoods, the county is counting on FAA approval to limit night flights, a restriction that no airport has ever received.

• The county made another concession to noise-sensitive residents of Anaheim Hills. After the airport is built, planes will bypass the area by heading east instead of flying over homes. The EIR says only half of the planes can make the turn.  It is unclear as to whether they will proceed in that direction, or turn south towards the ocean, and back over South County.  The FAA has not approved the flight paths.

• The county acknowledged Thursday that important components of their plan rest on future decisions by the Federal Aviation Administration, the airlines and other aviation-related businesses.

• El Toro airport would create about 32,000 jobs and add about $2.9 billion to the economy by 2020, figures far lower than forecasts previously made by private pro-airport groups. Many will be low paying airport service jobs but affordable housing is not available.

• All comparisons between the airport and the non-aviation Millennium Plan are based on the March 1998 version of the Millennium Plan and not on the less dense, lower traffic version currently in plans by ETPRA and the City of Irvine.

• ETRPA contends that the County's traffic review relies on methodology that lowers estimates.

• County consultants say that airport demand will double in the next 20 years and El Toro is needed to absorb it.  However, Orange County population is expected to rise by only 7 % and this can be absorbed by other area airports.

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This page last updated on January 26, 2000