Chamber Backs Hahn LAX Plan but Wants Revisions

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors on Thursday unanimously endorsed Mayor James K. Hahn’s controversial modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport, but with several conditions.

Board members concurred with other influential business organizations, including the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. and the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., however, that the mayor must revise portions of his $9-billion plan.

Those revisions include taking a closer look at a proposed remote check-in center near the San Diego Freeway.

The mayor has said that element is essential to the entire plan.

“We remain concerned about certain aspects of the plan,” wrote Russell “Rusty” Hammer, the chamber’s president, in a memo to George Kieffer, its chairman. “These include a number of issues related largely to the [check-in center] at Manchester Square, security issues, passenger convenience, capital and operational cost/benefit analysis and the overall financing.”

The chamber also suggested that the mayor establish an oversight committee that would review projects like Manchester Square before approval and make recommendations to the Airport Commission, the mayor and the City Council.

Hahn’s LAX plan would dramatically change the way passengers use the airport by rerouting private vehicles from the current facility to Manchester Square; demolishing Terminals 1, 2 and 3; building an elevated train that would link various facilities; and moving the airport’s two sets of parallel runways farther apart.

The first hearing on the final environmental documents for Hahn’s plan will be held May 24.