LAWA Drops Ball on Van Nuys Airport Plan The Secession Question By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Should voters approve secession this November, the new city stands to gain a valuable but, by most accounts, mismanaged asset: the Van Nuys Airport. In addition to getting the largest general aviation airport in the world, the new city would inherit a decades-long battle between city officials, airport business owners and residents over expansion plans, noise controls and flight curfews. Aviators and residents alike say the airport’s management, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), has all but shelved the so-called “master plan” for land use at Van Nuys a plan now 12 years in the making and one that officials said would be ready this month. The Board of Airport Commissioners (BOAC) canceled a March 28 meeting with the L.A. Planning Commission where the two groups were expected to approve a draft of the master plan. “We were supposed to meet to expedite the plan, but that never happened,” said Planning Commissioner Bob Scott. “A plan is now up in the air, and someone has to get off their duff and do something.” A half a dozen or so business owners at the airport have all had their proposals for expansion rejected by the BOAC, thwarting expensive and time-consuming efforts on their part to accommodate business growth. “They rejected all the proposals and said, ‘Sorry,”‘ said Mark Sullivan, owner of Skytrails Aviation. “This is just like a broken record.” Finally, residents who’ve asked repeatedly to meet with Mayor James Hahn about their concerns involving expansion, noise and flight curfews have been flatly rejected. Wayne Williams, a member of Stop the Noise, said, “His (Hahn’s) bogus response to us was to turn my written request over to LAWA. By refusing to meet with us and hear our legitimate concerns, he has forced me, a native of Los Angeles, initially reluctant to participate in the secession process, to now support secession.” Repeated calls to all seven BOAC members were not returned. Stacy Geere, LAWA’s public and community relations director at VNA, said she could not confirm the status of the master plan. “I have no new information to give,” she said. Meanwhile, the foot dragging is producing more fodder for the pro-secession movement, which has long centered on issues of neglect and broken promises. With a ballot initiative on secession in place, the question many aviators and residents are beginning to ask is: will things be any better with a new city? Will a new city government support business growth at the airport, or residents opposed to airport expansion? “Things can’t get much worse than they are now,” said Gerald Silver, president of Stop the Noise, the Encino Homeowners Association and the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) on airport issues. Although the homeowners association, said Silver, has yet to take a position on secession, it plans to this month. “If we were to have the airport, we’d have a government that would be more sensitive to homeowners,” said Silver. “How can I say that with so much conviction? Because for the last 30 years I’ve seen the way LAWA has treated residents here. That’s proven.” Not necessarily, said Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Association and member of the Van Nuys Citizens Advisory Council. “I don’t think a new government is going to make that much of a difference. I think the present government has been doing about as much as they technically and legally can, considering all the hoops they are forced to jump through,” Schultz said. Schultz pointed out that some of the mandates in the draft proposal for a master plan for Van Nuys have already been voluntarily implemented by the city, including the soundproofing of roughly 2,000 residential units near the airport and moving an 11 p.m. flight curfew to 10 p.m. “Pieces of the plan are working,” said Schultz, who takes a more business-friendly view of the airport and is often at odds with Silver on development and noise issues. Schultz said he supports secession, regardless of its impact on airport issues. “I’ve been a secessionist from day one,” said Schultz. “Would things be better? Who can say right now? Whether the new government would be more favorable to homeowners or aviators, I really don’t know. But the airport is losing money, and it should be treated like the valuable asset it really is.” Skytrails owner Sullivan, hoping to buy a slice of vacant land near his business to build new hangars, declined to say where he stood on secession or whether he thought a new city government would be more sympathetic toward aviators. “It could turn out to be just like what we have down in Santa Monica, where the residents there just want the airport to go away,” said Sullivan. “This is going to be a very tough decision to make, but the city sure isn’t helping their side much.” Although the airport has consistently operated in the red for the last several years, gasoline taxes the city collects now from aviators, coupled with the revenue potential for development, make the VNA one of the most valuable assets a new Valley city could ask for. One report released this year said if all the aviators’ plans were green-lighted by city officials, they would account for roughly 40 acres of new business development and pump an estimated $75 million into the local economy. Scott said, regardless of which way a new government swings, it would have to do a better job than the current city is at the airport. “It’s been 12 years we’ve been working on this (master plan) and, in the meantime, we have a grossly mismanaged asset losing money every day,” he said. The Federal Aviation Administration would have to approve the transfer of the VNA to a new Valley city, but Scott said there is little reason to believe it would object. “I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t,” said Scott. “It’s no sweat off their brow.”
