DEAL CUT TO HALT LAX LAWSUITS CITY AGREES TO LIMIT PASSENGERS, NOISE.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Los Angeles city officials will announce today that they have cut a deal to end litigation over the modernization of LAX, with opponents agreeing to trust the mayor and City Council to abandon the most controversial elements of the $11 billion plan.

Under the proposed settlement, the grass-roots Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion and other opponents will drop lawsuits that have stalled the controversial plan for Los Angeles International Airport developed by former Mayor James Hahn.

In exchange, the city promises to limit passenger traffic by gradually closing airplane gates, to give critics and neighbors a greater voice in upgrading one of the nation's busiest airports, and to help fund noise- and traffic-mitigation projects in their communities.

``This is an historic day of developing trust and friendship with our neighbors,'' Airport Executive Director Lydia Kennard said at a briefing Wednesday, in advance of a formal announcement today.

The proposed settlement would allow $4 billion in runway and other improvements, but does not resolve for certain some of the more hotly contested elements of the plan, including an off-site ground transportation center where all passengers and baggage would be screened.

While it still needs approval from a variety of agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the City Council and the county Board of Supervisors, the agreement would end all pending lawsuits and the parties would agree to no further legal action involving the master plan.

The deal had been urged by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAX-area Councilman Bill Rosendahl, and was hammered out over the past three weeks. Aides said the mayor met with all the principals in late September and early October, as well as holding several private sessions in his City Hall offices to push the settlement.

``I am elated that at long last, we have the ability to move forward with a rational, community-sensitive plan,'' said a statement issued by Villaraigosa, who was attending a meeting of the nation's mayors at Harvard University.

Debate and legal challenges have marked the effort to improve LAX since former Mayor Richard Riordan first proposed the idea in 1993. At one point, he suggested expanding the airport to 100 million passengers a year and tripling the amount of cargo it handles.

Hahn revised the plan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to emphasize security. However, the plan came under fire by security experts, who said an off-site terminal would actually increase the potential for terrorism by concentrating all passengers in one place.

After protests and lawsuits, Hahn agreed to a scaled-back version that created a two-tier program that would ``green-light'' projects such as runway improvements and ``yellow-light'' those that required more study. The scaled-back plan also limited the number of passengers to less than 79 million a year.

In his mayoral campaign, Villaraigosa pledged to scrap nearly all ``yellow-light'' projects - including the off-site terminal - and to urge a regional approach to air travel.

Councilman Bernard Parks, an outspoken critic of the Hahn plan, said he had yet to be briefed on the proposed deal, but that his main concerns remain adopting a regional approach to air traffic and eliminating the ground-transportation center.

A key element of the settlement proposal involves limiting passenger traffic at LAX, which is expected to hit 63 million this year.

The FAA does not allow airports to cap the number of passengers, but Kennard said LAX can be designed to limit growth. Once annual passenger traffic hits 75 million, the airport would shut down two gates a year for the next five years.

That would reduce the number of airport gates from the current 163 to 153, limiting the number of flights that could be accommodated, although much larger planes are expected to come into use in the years ahead.

The deal also would commit the city to a 30-month timetable for studying all other projects in the plan to determine which should proceed and which should be abandoned - including a ground transportation center, a people-mover and the razing of Terminals 1, 2 and 3 in favor of a new concourse.

The settlement, however, would allow plans for a new Western Satellite Concourse - at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion - and for work to proceed on a new baggage-handling facility.

In addition, Kennard said Los Angeles World Airports, the city's airports department, is reserving the right to look at other projects that had been earlier cleared for approval, such as a separate facility for rental cars.

Those are some of the elements being reviewed by the Rand Corp., an early critic of the Hahn plan, which has since been retained to conduct a security study of the airport.

The department agreed to speed payments totaling $266 million for noise and traffic mitigation projects in neighboring cities, paying it over 10 years rather than the 15 years originally envisioned.

There also would be a separate community-benefits program valued at $500 million that would provide jobs and training as well as mitigation projects.

The airports department also agreed to form a working group of officials to develop plans to increase use of Ontario and Palmdale airports - including transportation improvements - and agreed to establish eight Park and Ride FlyAway operations around the county.

``The main thing we won was an opportunity to bring a group of people together to get them to agree on a rational approach to development at the airport,'' Rosendahl said. ``We have never had that.

``Now, we will sit down and be able to take this out of the world of litigation and work together on modernization and, more importantly, work immediately to improve traffic safety.''

For master-plan opponents, the proposed deal was viewed as a way to have a say on the airport's future growth.

``We think this is a turning point in the future of LAX,'' said Jan Chatten-Brown, attorney for the ARSAC, the citizens group that filed the initial legal action against the airport plan.

``I think the most important things are that this will give us input into how the airport is developed and have the airport take a real approach to seeking a regional solution to the air transportation needs,'' Chatten- Brown said.

El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell - whose city has fought for decades with Los Angeles over the airport - said the settlement addresses the main concerns of his residents.

``What we wanted from Day One, what all the petitioners wanted, was a way to limit capacity at LAX,'' McDowell said. ``I believe this settlement achieves that.''

``This is something where both sides gave up something,'' McDowell said. ``We think this will end up being good for El Segundo and for LAX.''

Kennard said she believes the proposed deal could be approved by the start of the new year, with a goal of starting construction on widening the airport's south runways early next year.

Work already has started on the Tom Bradley International Terminal and a baggage-loading facility, airport officials said. Kennard said the mayor and airport officials will decide which additional projects might be accelerated, such as securing funding to bring the Green Line light rail into LAX, and road, communication and parking-lot improvements.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

PROPOSED LAX SETTLEMENT

Here of some of the provisions of the proposed settlement:

--Reduce the number of gates in operation by two a year, to a maximum of 10, once annual passenger traffic reaches 75 million.

--Develop a 30-month process for reviewing all issues and projects including a ground-transportation center, noise, traffic and pollution.

--Invite the Federal Aviation Administration, the Southern California Association of Governments, neighboring counties and airport operators to form a working group to develop a regional air transportation plan.

--Develop a regional plan to encourage greater use of Palmdale and Ontario airports.

--Create a working group with Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion to deal with LAX neighbors' concerns.

--Provide $266 million to Los Angeles County, Inglewood, El Segundo and other affected areas for noise and traffic mitigation.

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PROPOSED LAX SETTLEMENT (see text)