A citizens group opposed to San Jose International Airport's expansion plan has filed suit saying the project would cause traffic gridlock and lead to more air and noise pollution.
Citizens Against Airport Pollution, which filed the suit Monday in Santa Clara Superior Court, stressed that it's not against a bigger airport. But it claimed city officials failed to adequately consider the potential environmental impacts.
"What we're trying to do is to make a nicer airport and make a nicer community where you can get a good night's sleep," said CAAP chairwoman Lenora Porcella.
Defendants are the City of San Jose, the San Jose City Council and the airport. Named as plaintiffs are two San Jose residents from a neighborhood in the airport's flight path<./p>
he airport plan, approved by the San Jose City Council in June, calls for a third passenger terminal, a second full-length runway and a bigger fuel storage facility, said Cary Greene, a planner for the San Jose Airport Department. The new airport would have 49 gates, compared with 31 today.
Greene said the $926 million project would enable the airport to accommodate 18 million passengers by 2010 and meet the needs of Silicon Valley's growing economy.
The airport currently serves 10 million passengers annually, he said.
Porcella said the South Bay is reeling from congestion and the plan would make it worse.
Her group wants a scaled-back plan that she said would create fewer problems for neighborhoods near the airport.
Porcella cited the Guadalupe Washington Neighborhood, a predominantly Latino community near the airport that she said would bear the brunt of the noise and air pollution.
The suit said the group is considering amending its complaint to include civil rights violations charges against city officials.
Porcella said the group favors a less ambitious plan that would not require a new terminal but would enable the airport to take in 12 million passengers a year.
"The roads and the infrastructure cannot handle the added traffic," she said. "That is why we are asking the court to invalidate the master plan."
San Jose Assistant City Attorney Bill Hughes defended the project, maintaining, "The environmental effects of the expansion were thoroughly reviewed." He also rejected demands to reduce the project's size.
"The airport expansion is an important project for the city of San Jose, and it's appropriate to move forward," he said.
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