LOS ANGELES, Dec. 6, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners (BOAC) today unanimously approved an agreement with the LAX Coalition for Economic, Environmental and Educational Justice that provides environmental mitigation programs and jobs-related benefits to communities that would be impacted by the implementation of the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Master Plan.
"This Community Benefits Agreement is a national model for airport development and serves to enhance the quality of life of the communities surrounding LAX as we move forward with our plans to make LAX safer and more secure for the millions of travelers who pass through the airport every year," said Mayor Jim Hahn. "I am proud that together we have developed a comprehensive environmental, economic and educational community benefits agreement that will directly benefit the communities most impacted by operations at LAX."
The agreement is the first CBA negotiated with a government entity. When the coalition approached Mayor Hahn late last year to propose the CBA, he immediately demonstrated his commitment to the communities surrounding the airport by directing Los Angeles World Airports and his own staff to work with the coalition to negotiate the agreement. Previous agreements, including half a dozen in Los Angeles, have been reached between private developers and community organizations.
The LAX Coalition for Economic, Environmental and Educational Justice includes approximately 22 community, educational, religious, environmental, and labor organizations. In particular, it represents the interests of low-income and minority populations located near LAX. In related actions, the Board approved settlement agreements with the Lennox and Inglewood School Districts to provide noise abatement improvements at specific schools within each of the two school districts that are located in areas subject to high noise levels from aircraft operations at LAX. The Lennox and Inglewood School Districts are members of the LAX Coalition. As a part of its action approving the agreements, the Board also certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), including three addenda for the LAX Master Plan Program.
The agreement with the LAX Coalition for Economic, Environmental and Educational Justice is comprised of two parts: a Cooperation Agreement that sets out the legal framework of the agreement, including conditions, commitments, obligations and enforcement; and a Community Benefits Agreement that details various proposals of mitigation and community benefits.
The Community Benefits Agreement includes measures to mitigate noise, pollutant emissions and traffic impacts of the Master Plan, as well as benefits such as job training and hiring programs for eligible residents of the Project Impact Area and the City of Los Angeles.
Today's action comes after nine months of negotiation between Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) - the City department that owns and operates LAX and three other Southern California airports - and Coalition members to try to resolve the Coalition's legal and policy concerns about the LAX Master Plan through cooperation and settlement, rather than through litigation.
Implementation of the specified elements of the agreement is tied to approvals of the LAX Master Plan by the City Council and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The agreement precludes LAWA from making expenditures or taking actions prohibited by the FAA or any other regulatory authority. The Cooperation Agreement prohibits the use of Los Angeles City's General Fund or any other City-controlled source of funds to meet any of LAWA's obligations under the agreement.
Residential noise mitigation proposals within the Community Benefits Agreement call for:
-- set minimum annual levels of funding at $4.275 million each for
the aircraft noise mitigation programs conducted by the City of
Inglewood and Los Angeles County
-- accelerate soundproofing programs for qualified Los Angeles City
residents and for places of worship
-- begin an "end-of-block" soundproofing program for residences on a
particular city-block if at least one residence on that block is
eligible for noise mitigation (after currently eligible
residences are soundproofed)
-- suspend, under certain circumstances, its requirement for
homeowners to execute avigation easements after receiving LAWA-
provided or funded soundproofing benefits (and require only
limited noise easements)
-- cease requiring more stringent building codes than those actually
enforced by the local government jurisdiction
-- conduct a Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 161 Study that
may result in LAX restricting easterly departures between
midnight and 6:30 a.m. when LAX flights operate in either over-
ocean or westerly directions.
The Community Benefits Agreement also includes LAWA providing $3 million per year for five years to fund job training for airport and aviation-related jobs and for LAX Master Plan Program Construction pre-apprenticeship training. The job training program would be administered by the Los Angeles City Community Development Department and the City Workforce Investment Board. LAWA would be required to develop work experience programs for targeted applicants living in the Project Impact Area.
The agreement also calls for the creation of a "First Source Hiring Program" and referral system for airport-related jobs targeting low-income individuals living in the Project Impact Area, individuals who have received public assistance within 24 months of applying for a job or job training, individuals who are homeless, ex-offenders, chronically unemployed, dislocated airport workers, and low-income individuals living in the City of Los Angeles.
Small businesses and minority-owned and women-owned businesses in the Project Impact Area would be sought to increase their participation as LAX contractors in the planning, design, financing, construction and all other projects of the LAX Master Plan Program.
The CBA also calls for LAWA to fund air quality, health, and environmental studies conducted by independent experts.
To reduce and control pollutant emissions, LAWA would electrify all new and current aircraft boarding gates, cargo operations areas and hangars; minimize fugitive dust from Master Plan construction-related activities; and implement a multi-faceted program aimed at reducing emissions from ground service equipment, trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles operated by airport-related businesses. LAWA's use of alternative-fuel and hydrogen-fuel-cell technologies also would be increased under the agreement.
During construction of the Master Plan, LAWA would minimize construction traffic impacts to local communities and consult with the Coalition about mitigating negative impacts should LAWA participate in construction of an interchange to the I-405 freeway at Lennox Boulevard.
The costs of the agreements covering the communities and the two school systems total an estimated $500 million.
(NSC - 12/6/04)