Grassroots effort halts airport expansion plans - for now Grassroots effort halts airport expansion plans - for now (February 11, 2005)

Livermore council agrees to take new look at growth needs
by Jeb Bing

Pleasanton Mayor Jennifer Hosterman has called the Livermore City Council "courageous" for its decision last week to abandon a massive expansion proposal for the Livermore Airport.

The Livermore council, voting against the recommendation of its own Livermore Airport Advisory Committee, halted further consideration of revising a 1975 master plan for the field and asked staff to start over.

"I'm really pleased with the direction the Livermore City Council has taken," Hosterman said. "What they did was absolutely courageous. Their decision is in keeping with the city of Pleasanton's position and the desire of the people of the Tri-Valley."

A member of the committee, Hosterman had joined 20 others in a series of meetings over the last six months to make recommendations on the expansion plan. The Pleasanton City Council, along with Dublin's, had objected to any expansion until a full Environmental Impact Report was conducted, usually a one-year process.

In its final meeting, the committee voted to ask the City Council to conduct an EIR before making any decisions on the proposed expansion.

Organized by the Livermore council after objections from its neighboring cities and local residents, the Advisory Committee was supposed to resolve differences over issues such as adding more hangars, lengthening runways and adding more airplane traffic, including jets. Instead, committee members squared off in pro-expansion and no-growth circles, agreeing only that an EIR should be conducted.

As reports of major increases to airport traffic spread, so did the opposition. A grassroots effort led to more than 400 showing up at a Livermore Planning Commission meeting last summer, most of them opposed to any airport expansion. Last week, an estimated 1,500 crowded into Granada High School's gymnasium and into the adjacent school cafeteria, which served as an overflow room. Carrying anti-airport-expansion signs and shouting as speakers asked the council to stop any expansion, most seemed opposed to growth plans for the field.

Faced with one of its largest crowds ever, council members accepted a proposal by Councilman Tom Reitter to shelve the airport's 1975 Master Plan that was being updated. Instead, airport planners and a consultant will look at the 590-acre field as it is today, and then suggest changes that might be needed. Once that's done, a process that could take two years, the council will subject it to an EIR.

"I think we all recognize the fact that the airport provides a real amenity to all three cities," Hosterman said. "But at the same time, the impact to the communities seems to be growing and we need to make sure that any future expansion carefully looks at and mitigates this impact."

Mayor Marshall Kamena said that he had met with Hosterman and Dublin Mayor Janet Lockhart earlier.

"We met to map out the overall welfare of our three cities so that we can share these common concerns and work mutually for the benefit of our cities," he said.

For now, with expansion plans on hold, airport authorities are bracing for increased traffic without runway capacity to handle it or hangars to accommodate overnight aircraft.

"It looks as if we've just thrown away five years worth of work on improving the Livermore Airport," said pilot Kevin Ryan. "Even so, more planes will be landing here, and more of them will be jets. You can't stop them. People fly here for all kinds of reasons: business, recreation, golf tournaments, you name it. Without more runway capacity, more of us will be queuing up to land, flying longer and lower over Pleasanton and Livermore as we wait our turn to land and make our final approaches."

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