ALARCON WANTS NEW MAJOR AIRPORT MAYORAL CANDIDATE PROPOSES CREATING COUNTYWIDE AGENCY.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - With Mayor James Hahn's $11 billion LAX modernization plan moving forward despite widespread criticism, state Sen. Richard Alarcon has developed his own strategy: Build a major new airport in fast-growing northern Los Angeles County.

Alarcon, a Van Nuys Democrat who is running for mayor, plans to introduce a bill this week to create a countywide authority that would pursue construction of another international airport - one that would relieve congestion at LAX.

While the region has several smaller commercial airports - including Ontario, Long Beach, Bob Hope in Burbank and John Wayne in Orange County airports - he argues that none of them is large enough to ease the passenger load at Los Angeles International Airport.

``Most major jurisdictions have two major airports, and there's no reason why Los Angeles County shouldn't,'' said Alarcon.

``John Wayne and Ontario are international airports, but I don't think anybody can expect those will ever have the capacity of a LAX or fulfill the need of the region.''

Among the options, he said, is expanding Palmdale Regional Airport, where Scenic Airlines plans to start daily service to Las Vegas on Dec. 29. However, he doubts the city of Los Angeles, which owns the facility, would ever push to expand it.

He has not yet estimated the cost or proposed a timeline, but says the new agency would explore those questions.

Alarcon opposes Hahn's LAX modernization plan, but said his own is not an alternative.

Instead, he argues a new airport should be built regardless of whether Hahn's measure is approved by the City Council on Tuesday.

Hahn's plan is more about modernizing operations and security at LAX, while Alarcon's addresses capacity. Alarcon also believes another international airport should be built with cooperation from communities throughout Los Angeles County, rather than allowing the city of Los Angeles to dominate the process.

A Hahn aide said that the mayor sees no need for a new airport and that the city already is proceeding with plans to better utilize its airports, including those at Palmdale and Ontario.

``Basically, this is just another political ploy that avoids the real issues that Mayor Hahn is discussing, like putting cops in the street,'' said Yusef Robb, a spokesman for Hahn's mayoral re-election campaign.

``The reality is, under Mayor Hahn, the city of Los Angeles already operates a regional airport system. Mayor Hahn helped Ontario grow into a first-rate international airport, and he's expanding operations at Palmdale.''

Most critics of Hahn's plan argue that the city should focus more on expanding Palmdale and Ontario airports, and building better ground transportation links to Los Angeles.

Alarcon said he is reaching out to other legislators to gather support for his plan.

But several northern Los Angeles County lawmakers said they think the city should better use the Palmdale and Ontario airports, with more ground transportation links.

``I don't think there is any need for additional sites for airports,'' said Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills. ``If we implement a regional airport system - with Palmdale airport, LAX, Burbank and Ontario - we will have a good air-transportation system.''

Similarly, state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, whose district includes Santa Clarita, said he believes Palmdale should be expanded into an international airport, as intended decades ago.

State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, said he would like to see a new regional authority to oversee the region's air-transportation needs, but does not see the need to build a new airport. He would like to see Palmdale expanded as a regional airport, though not an international one.

Assemblyman Mike Gordon, the former mayor of El Segundo who has been a leading opponent of LAX expansion, said the greatest population growth for the region is projected for the Inland Empire, so Ontario Airport should be the focus of expansion efforts.

``The population and job growth of Southern California in the next 20 years is going to significantly expand in the Inland Empire,'' Gordon said. ``It makes sense to have an airport the size of Phoenix Sky Harbor in the Inland Empire to handle that traffic.''

The other mayoral candidates also do not see a need for another airport.

City Councilman Bernard Parks said the city should make better use of Ontario, where flights now can be significantly more expensive than similar flights out of LAX, forcing some Inland Empire residents to drive to Los Angeles.

Parks would also like to see state legislation that would create a six- county Southern California authority that would jointly plan regional air- transportation issues.

``The only way the city is going to be able to take control of its future is to begin to manage its own four airports as a system, to use that to cause the workload to be dispersed to the betterment of the four airports in the system,'' Parks said.

Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa also supports better use of the airports at Ontario and Palmdale, which he believes are being underutilized, said Parke Skelton, a consultant for the councilman's mayoral campaign.

Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg does not see the need to build a new airport or create an additional airport bureaucracy, but supports a five-county regional approach to air-transportation planning, said campaign spokesman Matt Szabo.

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com