A grassroots effort to put South County Airport expansion plans
through more stringent environmental review took an early round
blow in court last week, when a San Jose judge denied a request to
halt construction of 100 new hangars at the San Martin
facility.
A grassroots effort to put South County Airport expansion plans through more stringent environmental review took an early round blow in court last week, when a San Jose judge denied a request to halt construction of 100 new hangars at the San Martin facility.
The San Martin Neighborhood Alliance – the group suing the county – would have liked a different verdict from Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge William Elfving. However, the group says the judge’s decision does not bode poorly for the upcoming trial on their bid to halt the project. A hearing on the request for a permanent injunction is expected to begin within the next six months.
“I don’t want the community to feel that the denial (of the injunction) means the lawsuit is not credible, it absolutely is credible,” Alliance president Sylvia Hamilton said. “We feel that we still have a strong case. I believe any project of this magnitude needs to address the quality of life issues for the community around it.”
At issue is whether Santa Clara County should conduct the most stringent of environmental reviews – called an Environmental Impact Report – while it doubles the amount of airplane hangars at South County Airport and updates the airport’s 20-year-old master plan which could potentially bring longer runways for larger aircraft to the San Martin airfield.
San Martin Neighborhood Alliance says residents’ concerns over development at the airport have never been heard and addressed adequately by the county. An EIR, the group says, would more fairly scrutinize the impact of an expanded airport as the county tries to push those plans through.
The county believes it has done everything required under the law, including holding public meetings, regarding the hangar project. Although the judge’s decision does not bar the county from moving forward with the construction of the hangars, District 1 Supervisor Don Gage says the county will proceed cautiously.
Gage said the lawsuit is going to delay the county by about six months, but it will still issue bonds to fund the project.
“We need to go out to bond while the interest rates are low and have the money ready to go once the lawsuit is over,” Gage said.
Gage said even if the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance wins the lawsuit, the airport master plan and the hangar project will go ahead.
“It just means we’d have to do an EIR and mitigate, it doesn’t mean there is no project,” Gage said. “This is not a win-lose situation for us.”
A lawyer for the San Martin residents, Rick van’t Rood, said if the county proceeds with the airport hangar project, “it is doing so at its own risk.”
van’t Rood and Charles Logan, an attorney from San Jose, presented a lengthy brief detailing objections to the case.
Among the objections: airport expansion plans ignore the county’s general plan, developed in 1995, which stated its desire to keep San Martin rural; allowing larger planes will encourage longer runways which leads to further expansions; and the planned retention pond located close to Llagas Creek presents environmental concerns.
