[JeffZurn]

Airport expansion plans move ahead
By Tony Bizjak - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B1


The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously endorsed environmental plans for a $1 billion-plus expansion of the region's crowded Sacramento International Airport.

The approval appears to keep airport officials on a tight timeline to build a new parking lot south of Interstate 5 next year in preparation for construction of a major new terminal building by 2011 to replace the outdated Terminal B facilities.

"This is a major milestone," airports director G. Hardy Acree said, in "what seems like a marathon of milestones."

Final county approval of official environmental documents for the expansion is expected in September, Acree said.

A state Department of Fish ad Game official said on Tuesday his agency has not yet given its blessing to the airport's environmental plan, but said agency officials expect to work cooperatively with the county in the coming weeks over any potential outstanding issues.

Fish and Game official Todd Gardner said he is still reviewing the county's analysis of the impact its expansion may have on nearly two dozen endangered species that live in the environmentally sensitive surrounding area -- notably the Swainson's hawk. "We were concerned the project may reduce the available baseline habitat," he said. "I need a little more time."

Airport officials cleared another potential stumbling block in reaching an agreement with environmentalists to permanently set aside 1 acre of new hawk foraging habitat for every acre of hawk habitat destroyed by the expansion.

Initially, airport officials expected to set aside land at a 3/4-acre to 1-acre ratio. Jim Pachl and Jude Lamare, both of Friends of the Swainson's Hawk, balked, citing county codes requiring one-to-one habitat replacement.

"We showed them they were wrong," Pachl said.

County officials also must receive federal environmental clearances, which they hope to get by the end of the year.

The airport, which hit the million-flier mark for the first time in June, is planning the biggest overhaul and expansion in its history.

Officials said the airport is on its way to hitting its 12-million passenger annual capacity. The planned expansion should expand capacity to 21 million.

That expansion is expected to start next year with construction of a 13,800-space parking lot and a car rental complex south of Interstate 5.

Officials say the parking area will compensate for parking spaces lost when a new terminal is built on existing Terminal B parking areas.

The centerpiece of the airport expansion is a three-story, glass-walled central terminal, connected by a tram to a new jet concourse at the end of the airport.

Also planned are a second parking garage, a high-rise hotel attached to the new terminal, and eventually a third runway.

The plan also includes room for a light-rail station, although Regional Transit officials say it doesn't appear they will be able to afford to extend light rail to the airport until after 2020.