Manchester Square, LAX's money pit.

Manchester Square is ground zero in L.A. Mayor James Hahn's $9 billion plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport--specifically it's where a passenger and check-in facility is to be built. Roughly $500 million has been budgeted to acquire homes, apartments and an elementary school that sit where the complex would be located.

There's just one problem: The Manchester Square portion of the mayor's plan stands little chance of getting past the City Council.

"I don't know what that land will be and how it will justify the cost of clearing that land if it's not a part of the overall airport plan," said City Councilman Bernard Parks, a critic of Hahn's airport proposal. "The cost of buying houses, relocating people and then not to have a more effective use of it--it will go down as a very expensive non-starter."

So far, more than $171 million has been spent in acquiring property, moving residents and approving contracts related to Manchester Square, said Nancy Castles, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports. The entire residential acquisition program, which is supposed to conclude by 2006, has an estimated budget of $485 million and is not included in the overall $9 billion bill to renovate LAX.

Of the 280 homes once occupying Manchester Square, only 35 remain, Castles said.

"You have a ghostly-looking area now where several hundred lots have cyclone fences around them," local businessman Howard Drollinger of HB Drollinger Co. said of the 143-acre site. "It makes for the appearance of a depressed area."

If the passenger and baggage site is not approved, few alternatives are on the table for the area bordered by Arbor Vitae Street and La Cienega, Century and Aviation boulevards.

'Point of no return'

Before Hahn's plan was introduced following Sept. 11, 2001, the community had asked for a park to be built as a buffer to aircraft noise, according to former City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter.

Galanter, now a consultant, said the airport has proposed using the site for fueling stations, repair shops or cargo facilities, which was the intended use in the three airport expansion proposals that preceded Hahn's.

Now, with that plan in limbo, Manchester Square is in the middle of a political shoot-out.

"There's a point of no return," said City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes Manchester Square. "When you start to buy out people from a community and leave the properties vacant, it starts to spiral in on itself where you need to continue, if not increase, the momentum. Otherwise, you're creating a ghost town, which nobody is comfortable with."

Denny Schneider, vice president of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion, a group of community organizations and elected officials from localities near the airport, said local residents feel angry, frustrated and betrayed by how the airport has managed Manchester Square.

He said the problems were compounded after Sept. 11, 2001, when then-Airport Commission President Ted Stein put a temporary halt on the program until a new LAX Master Plan was devised. That freeze left many homeowners with their money in escrow and bids on other houses. Meanwhile, many homeowners have received their payment checks so late that their home values have since risen.

"It was supposed to be a voluntary purchase buyout," he said. "It wasn't necessarily to force everybody out. At the beginning, people were happy to get out. But those who didn't want to leave were feeling compelled to leave."

Array of problems

The acquisition program got its start in 1999 after several Manchester Square residents volunteered to leave instead of receiving soundproofing upgrades from the airport. Funded by passenger facility charges approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, the program's budget has doubled as unanticipated challenges arose.

Chief among them: soaring property costs and the difficulty in finding comparable appraisal rates--both of which have convinced some residents to stay until they get a better deal on their homes.

"Some who wanted to be purchased out didn't get a fast turn-around, and prices have gone up," said Miscikowski. "There's been a whole array of problems and the costs arising from it."

The departure of hundreds of residents has also caused problems, including the recent closure of 98th Street Elementary School after years of declining enrollment.

"The issue had been floating around, but we pulled the trigger," said Glenn Gritzner, special assistant to Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Roy Romer. "Clearly, enrollment has been declining faster in recent years. It finally got to a point where it wasn't viable for us to keep the school open for a small group of kids rattling around in an increasingly empty building."

School officials have begun negotiating with the airport over the property, but buying it will not be easy. "There are significant legal issues that need to be dealt with that are particular to a school district before a sale happens," said Andrew Glazier, chief of staff for Marlene Canter, school board vice president for the 4th District. "I wouldn't presume a sale is etched in stone."

Airport officials may also be forced to reimburse LAUSD for the construction of a replacement school. The cost of building a new elementary school ranges from $40,000 to $70,000 per seat.

Another challenge for airport officials is acquiring apartment buildings in Manchester Square. Only half have been bought, with 162 dwellings remaining.

Drollinger said the landlord with the biggest block of complexes has refused to sell his property until he gets a better return on his development. "He keeps apartments modestly maintained so that it's in an area that caters to the low-income renters. He's told the airport, 'If you buy my property you have to show me where I can get the same return on investment elsewhere.' And so far, they haven't been able to come up with that."

Miscikowski was asked what should be done about Manchester Square. She said: "We can't stop the process and leave it in limbo. What you're doing is condemning those who didn't get out in the first wave to stay there in an environment that is not conducive."

Miscikowski said airport officials should move along more quickly rather than delay the program. She recently announced her own alternative LAX Master Plan that would delay the Council's approval of the passenger and baggage site until further environmental and security studies are complete.

In an alternative plan devised by ARSAC and the Los Angeles Airline Airport Affairs Committee, a coalition of 80 carriers at LAX, Manchester Square would be home to a small conference center or park. Schneider said others have talked of bringing back affordable houses, which are in short supply.

"Everybody feels it looks like a blighted area," he said. "We're embarrassed the No. 1 Gateway to the city of L.A. looks like a trash dump."

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