VICA Panel Votes Down Airport Plan By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Members of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s (VICA) Transportation Committee overwhelming voted down a request last week to support a relatively new alternative master plan for development at Van Nuys Airport. Following a debate over the pros and cons of the proposal known as “Alternative J,” the plan, which has been supported by other business leaders, aviators and city and airport officials alike, was criticized heavily before the members voted 6-2 on April 9 not to support it. There were three abstentions. “To support this alternative plan would essentially mean overturning VICA’s 1999 position, which supports a plan for roughly 274 acres of aviation use, said committee co-chairman Bob Rodin. The Van Nuys Airport Citizens’ Advisory Council overwhelmingly approved Alternative J Feb 3. The proposal is being viewed as a modification to the current master plan proposal, which has been limping through the approval process for nearly 13 years. Under the current master plan proposal, louder jet operators would likely gain access to a large chunk of vacant land along the western edge of Balboa Boulevard, formerly home to the Air National Guard and adjacent to a residential area. While VICA’s position of support for that plan doesn’t specify who should be operating where, Rodin told the committee members that it is the group’s responsibility to think about long-term business growth opportunities for the jet aviators, many of whom are having to lease off-site space just to store planes. “We don’t want hangar rash,” said Rodin, referring to the close proximity with which planes are now having to be parked just to fit into hangars. Alternative J, however, calls for designating roughly 35 acres of the National Guard land to quieter propeller craft operators, which many residents and at least five city council members support. Coby King, the CAC’s president who crafted Alternative J, along with Rick Voorhis, owner of Van Nuys Flight Center, Inc., told the committee members that, despite not being a perfect plan, it was the one that stood the best chance of passing. “VICA can choose to continue to support a plan that’s politically dead in the water, that’s fine,” said King. “But it’s never going to be wall-to-wall jets there, and that master plan has no chance of passing because it doesn’t have enough community support to move into the next phase,” said King. King said he had a scheduled meeting with Los Angeles World Airports officials sometime this month to discuss the merits of Alternative J.