Monterey Peninsula Airport District could pay environmentalists $1 million in attorney fees

The Monterey Peninsula Airport District will likely end up paying more than $1 million to the other side's lawyers as a result of a two-year legal battle with environmentalists.

The district agreed to pay the attorney fees of the Highway 68 Coalition as a result of a settlement of a lawsuit reached Wednesday over environmental issues surrounding plans to add safety features to the airport, including a federally mandated feature that would prevent landing aircraft from overshooting the runway.

The district paid coalition attorneys $463,000 the first time a judge sided with the group, and the amount will likely be similar this time, said a coalition attorney and the airport's general manager.

The airport district has yet to determine the exact amount it would pay.

The figure does not represent the money paid to the district's own attorneys or other costs associated with the legal battle. Airport manager Tom Greer put that amount around $200,000.

The first time the district paid coalition attorneys, the money came from the passenger facility charge, not its general budget.

District board member Mary Ann Leffel said she was unsure if the Federal Aviation Administration grant financing the safety improvements could be used for the fees.

She said the passenger charge, an FAA program that allows the airport to collect up to $4.50 for every passenger, is typically used for improvements.

Alexander Henson, attorney for the coalition, said Thursday  the lawsuit and settlement were the result of errors on the district's part at the start of the project.

"Essentially, someone made the decision, 'We don't really want to be clear on what we are doing,'" he said.

At issue was the district's original plan for the project and environmental impact studies that Henson said did not properly explain plans for a new access road, extension of a runway plateau or the movement of more than 140,000 cubic yards of dirt needed for a crash pad.

Twice, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Lydia Villarreal agreed with different aspects of the coalition's argument, sending the district back to the drawing board.

Henson said he was unsure who made the decision to leave some details out of the environmental reports, but he suggested it came from the district's consultant, Coffman & Associates in Kansas City, Mo.

Calls to Coffman & Associates were not returned, but Greer said the district said the airport consultant did "an outstanding job" and so did the board of directors.

"We have a pretty strong position that the district had a very solid, very competent, very responsive project going in there," Greer said. "We can't speak to the lawsuit or the court's decision at this point in time."

Greer said the project would result in 100 to 150 highly skilled labor jobs. 

Source:  http://www.montereyherald.com