Antonovich seeks to hand airport battle to voters

Antonovich said the people of Los Angeles County need to be heard on whether Los Angeles International should be expanded or if the Palmdale and Ontario airports should be used to handle the county's increasing air traffic.

The supervisor will seek support from his fellow board members when they meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 West Temple St., Los Angeles.

If Antonovich gets three votes from the five-member board, an advisory measure will be placed on Los Angeles County's November ballot. There is an Aug. 7 deadline to place county measures on the ballot, said Grace Chavez, spokeswoman for the Registrar and Recorder's Office in Norwalk.

Cam Currier, Antonovich's press deputy, described the advisory measure as a poll of the voters. He said Antonovich did the same thing years ago, testing public opinion on whether residents of the San Fernando Valley wanted a subway.

The resulting tally showed voters wanted to keep their transportation on surface streets, Currier said. Antonovich still uses that vote today to battle the MTA subway project in Los Angeles.

"Palmdale and Ontario airports are in the heart of the fastest growing areas of California," Antonovich said. "They would be convenient for the 6.5 million people residing in the Antelope, Santa Clarita, San Fernando, San Gabriel and Pomona valleys."

With the number of passengers arriving or landing expected to double to 157 million by the year 2020, Los Angeles County is faced with accommodating 40 million additional passengers and 9 million tons of cargo each year, Antonovich added.

He said since the county's population of 10 million is spread out over 4,083 square miles, it's logical to use regional airports to solve the growing congestion problem.

LAX is the smallest airport in a major city in the United States, Antonovich said. Dallas-Fort Worth, for example, sits on 17,500 acres and has a similar annual passenger load.

Antonovich has been outspoken in his opposition of planned expansion at LAX. He said the benefits do not outweigh the cost, which is estimated between $12 billion and $24 billion.

"The project is opposed by neighboring communities," Antonovich said, "and it would do nothing to alleviate congestion on the 405 Freeway," which provides the main access to the airport.

Developing Palmdale Regional Airport and expanding existing service at Ontario aren't just more cost effective, Antonovich said. They're also more convenient.

Los Angeles World Airports, which oversees administration of LAX, Van Nuys, Ontario and Palmdale airports for the city of Los Angeles, already owns more than 17,000 acres east of Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.

Los Angeles officials selected the Palmdale site in 1968 as the best place to send overflow from LAX. The diversion was supposed to take place when LAX traffic reached 40 million passengers per year. It now has 80 million, and no diversion has taken place, Antonovich said.

The Ontario airport, which serves more than 6 million passengers per year, sits just east of the Los Angeles County line in San Bernardino County. It serves residents of eastern Los Angeles County, as well as residents of San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties.

Antonovich downplayed historic arguments against expanding the Palmdale Airport, which include its altitude and extreme heat; its distance from population centers; and its proximity to the San Andreas Fault.

On a hot day with a high-altitude runway it is more difficult to achieve takeoff in an aircraft than it is on a cool day at sea level. While critics have used that argument repeatedly, Antonovich said Palmdale's elevation of 2,500 feet is lower than many successful airports, and its daytime high temperatures are lower than daytime highs in Dallas and Las Vegas.

Antonovich also doesn't buy the argument that Palmdale is too far from the population center it is meant to serve. More than 3 million people live closer to Palmdale than LAX, he said. Similar claims were made against successful airports like Dulles, Denver, Kansas City and Dallas-Fort Worth, Antonovich added.

"A population base of 3.5 million people resides within a reasonable driving radius of the Palmdale airport," Antonovich said.

While the Palmdale airport is just two miles from the San Andreas Fault, Los Angeles International is near half a dozen faults, including the Inglewood Fault, Antonovich said.

The supervisor said Palmdale and Ontario will not replace LAX but will relieve the growing congestion problems by providing viable alternatives.

"The proposed expansion of LAX affects the entire county and the voters, who would pay $13 billion to $24 billion for this, need to be heard," Antonovich said.