Los
Angeles; Fate of Airport Up in the Air; Hawthorne: Developers propose a
potentially lucrative commercial project to replace the historic facility.
The Los Angeles
Times; Los Angeles, Calif.; Jul 17,
2001; JEAN MERL;
Abstract:
In
1939, Hawthorne officials lured aviation pioneer John Knudsen Northrop and his
aircraft manufacturing business to town with the promise of a mile-long
airstrip at his factory site. That brought the South Bay city a significant
piece of the then-fledgling aerospace and defense industry. In 1942, the
airport was converted into a municipally operated general aviation facility.
Visiting dignitaries sometimes fly in and out of Hawthorne, and it
serves as a base for some corporate and charter operations and for disaster
relief and medical missions. It hosts a flight school, a maintenance facility,
an aviation museum and a Federal Aviation Administration flight service center.
The pilots and flying clubs often give youngsters their first plane rides--and
a taste for a career in aviation.
"A key issue is whether this airport exists just for Hawthorne or
whether it is a valuable asset for the whole region," said Gary Parsons, a
Hawthorne resident who belongs to a flying club based at the airport.
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(Copyright,
The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 2001 allRights reserved) |
For six decades, Hawthorne Municipal Airport has been an
important part of the Southern California aviation scene. But its days may be
numbered.
In 1939, Hawthorne officials lured aviation pioneer John Knudsen
Northrop and his aircraft manufacturing business to town with the promise of a
mile-long airstrip at his factory site. That brought the South Bay city a
significant piece of the then-fledgling aerospace and defense industry. In
1942, the airport was converted into a municipally operated general aviation
facility.
Today, although in need of improvements and more commercial
tenants, the airport helps take some of the pressure off crowded Los Angeles
International Airport, just a couple miles away.
Visiting dignitaries sometimes fly in and out of Hawthorne,
and it serves as a base for some corporate and charter operations and for
disaster relief and medical missions. It hosts a flight school, a maintenance
facility, an aviation museum and a Federal Aviation Administration flight
service center. The pilots and flying clubs often give youngsters their first
plane rides--and a taste for a career in aviation.
"Our airport really put Hawthorne on the map during the
aerospace boom of the 1940s and 1950s. It has a really proud history, and it
does an awful lot of things for us," said Councilwoman Ginny Lambert.
But the airport's 80 acres of prime property along the Century
Freeway have made it increasingly attractive to developers. And in recent
years, as the city weathered a financial crisis that forced it to lay off
police officers and other workers, some of its leaders started talking about
closing the airport to make way for varied developments that could produce more
tax revenues.
Now, a well-heeled and politically influential Los
Angeles-based development team known as Paladin Partners is proposing that the
city replace the airport with a hotel, convention center, theaters, large
stores and restaurants. Supporters say the project would provide jobs, more money
for city services and an attractive place for families to gather.
Although still in its earliest stages, the proposal has
alarmed airport supporters in the city and national aviation organizations. A
deeply divided City Council decided last month, 3 to 2, to ask voters what they
think by placing a controversially worded advisory measure on the Nov. 6
ballot.
Developers, who sought the measure, say the complex would pump
more than $3.6 million annually into the coffers of this city of 84,000,
according to a preliminary study by an economics research firm they hired. On
top of that, developers say, they would set aside 25% of the sales and hotel
tax revenues for the city's public schools- -a sum they predicted would be
about $900,000 a year.
By contrast, the feasibility study said, the city earns just
$38,000 a year from the airport. Airport Manager Don Knechtel disputed that
figure, saying the facility provides $150,000 to $200,000 to the city's general
fund annually, but he acknowledged that even the higher amount pales in
comparison to what developers are promising.
"A key issue is whether this airport exists just for
Hawthorne or whether it is a valuable asset for the whole region," said
Gary Parsons, a Hawthorne resident who belongs to a flying club based at the
airport.
An ardent airport supporter, Parsons has announced that he
will run again for City Council (he first ran two years ago). The seats of all
three lawmakers favoring the advisory vote will be decided in the same
election, ensuring the airport issue a strong presence in this fall's
balloting.
Aviation Groups Urge FAA to Keep It Open
Already some state and national aviation groups have weighed
in, among them the California Pilots Assn. and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Assn., which has urged the FAA to ensure that the airport stays open. The
National Air Transportation Assn., a business lobby, recently put Hawthorne on
its list of "America's 100 Most Needed Airports," even though other
small airports are nearby, including in Torrance and Compton.
Pat Carey, a Hawthorne-based flight instructor and president
of the Hawthorne Airport Community Assn., said the city could keep the airport
open and turn it into a bigger moneymaker by making improvements and marketing
the site, much the way Santa Monica did with its airport.
"We haven't been very vocal in the past, but now the city
has fired this giant salvo, and we are not going to be so quiet anymore,"
Carey said.
Meanwhile, life at the airport goes on as usual. The control
tower operates from 6 a.m to 8 p.m. daily, guiding flying club members, student
pilots, operators of business aircraft and the occasional sheriff's helicopter
who use the airport's single runway. Noise regulations are aimed at keeping
area residents happy.
As the costs of recreational flying have soared in recent
years, the number of takeoffs and landings has decreased from a peak of 160,000
a year to the current 80,000. But city officials say that they have a waiting
list for hangar space and that the airport has become increasingly popular with
corporate, charter, tour and light air-freight operators.
At Nat's Coffee Shop in the terminal at the airport's east
end, the voices of Japanese tourists bound for the Grand Canyon on charter
flights can often be heard above the quiet conversations of the regulars who
like to lunch beside the runway.
Last month, the developers, who have exclusive negotiating
rights on the property, unveiled two alternatives. One would would keep the
airport open, make improvements and build aviation-related office space around
it; the other would raze it. Only the no-airport alternative is scheduled to be
submitted to voters.
According to the feasibility study, the alternative would
produce far less in city revenues--$101,000 a year--and fewer jobs--125 permanent
positions compared to the 2,530 projected for the commercial alternative.
"If you want to generate the maximum amount of revenues
to provide more benefits for all the people of Hawthorne, to provide more basic
services that will improve the quality of life, then this is a wonderful
alternative to [an airport] that benefits a select few," said Daniel
Weinstein, one of two principal partners in Paladin. The other, Richard Ziman,
heads Arden Realty, a major Southern California commercial real estate holder.
Both are big contributors to major Democratic elected officials.
Among the development's supporters at a recent public hearing
was Mario Chiappe, a former city planning commissioner and Centinela Valley
Union High School District board member who said the airport "is standing
in the way of progress."
"To me, the airport's significance to the city is pretty
minor. We really need jobs and the revenues and a pleasant place for people to
go," Chiappe said.
Some Criticize Wording of Ballot Measure
The two council members who voted against submitting the plan
to voters, Lambert and Mark Schoenfeld, said the ballot language is misleading
and stacks the deck in favor of the commercial development.
"If this had been more objective, I would have supported
it," Schoenfeld said, noting that the measure uses the word
"reuse" instead of "close" and refers to "additional
revenues to improve education, police and other community services," and
new jobs without mentioning any of the benefits associated with having an airport.
Schoenfeld and Lambert cite a closed shopping center and a
failed hotel just a few blocks away as evidence that closing the airport and
developing the property might not produce the promised results.
Councilman Steven Andersen, who moved to put the Paladin
proposal on the ballot, said his vote should not be construed as support for
the development itself. He said he will not decide until he hears from voters
and until a lengthy study process, including an environmental impact review, is
completed.
"[Weinstein] has a good company with a terrific track
record, and this kind of project could yield a tremendous amount of revenue to
the city, but I don't want to do something the citizens don't want,"
Andersen said.
Mayor Larry Guidi and Councilman Roy McNally, who also voted
for the ballot measure, could not be reached for comment. The airport's fate
does not rest in the city's hands alone. The FAA, which has designated the
airport an official LAX "reliever" facility, has provided improvement
grants that require it to remain open until at least 2011. And there are
questions about whether part of the land would revert to Northrop's parent
company if the airport ceased operations.
[Illustration]
Caption:
PHOTO: "A key issue is whether this airport exists just for Hawthorne or
whether it is a valuable asset for the whole region," says resident and
flying enthusiast Gary Parsons, who opposes closing.; PHOTOGRAPHER: MICHAEL
TERCHA / Los Angeles Times; GRAPHIC- MAP: (no caption), Los Angeles Times
Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER
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Sub Title: |
[Home Edition] |
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Edition: |
Record edition |
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Start Page: |
B.4 |
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ISSN: |
04583035 |
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Subject Terms: |
Shutdowns |
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Geographic Names: |
Hawthorne California |