SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/10179337.htm?1c S.J. airport plan now 'too small' FLOOR SPACE NEEDS TO GROW BY 40%, OFFICIALS SAY By Aaron C. Davis Mercury News After wrangling for a decade over every detail of building a bigger, better, $2.8 billion Mineta San Jose International Airport, the city council in 2001 approved plans to expand the aging gateway's terminals by more than 2 1/2 times their current sizes. Now it appears those plans weren't big enough. To make room for bulky, post-Sept. 11 security checkpoints as well as a ``wish list'' of amenities ranging from meditation rooms to children's play areas to more restaurants and roomy restrooms, airport officials plan to ask the council Tuesday to approve a 40 percent surge in the size of the airport's final floor plan. The 625,000 square-foot increase, technically listed as a ``minor amendment'' to the airport's master plan on the council's agenda, would be larger than the combined area of the HP Pavilion and the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. Airport officials say it's too early to determine how much the additional space may increase the project's total cost, but some council members and community leaders say they fear the request is just the beginning of untold expenses for a new and improved San Jose airport. Unwelcome surprise ``It's a complete surprise and not particularly welcome,'' said Kenneth Hayes, chairman of the 800-member Citizens Against Air Pollution, a San Jose neighborhood group that has dogged the airport's expansion plans for more than 15 years. ``The council said the space was fine, that they had all we would need. I'm shocked.'' Airport Director Ralph Tonseth acknowledged that the price of construction could go up. ``It's a large increase . . . and it probably will someday affect the cost,'' said Tonseth, who stressed that the majority of the space needed is for security queues and baggage checks. Many of the other amenities, Tonseth said -- from nursing areas for mothers to vast public art displays to restroom stalls big enough for passengers to roll in their luggage -- were added at the request of council members who reviewed the plans in April. ``Council members were pushing hard. The square-footage was coming from the dais,'' Tonseth said. ``We stuck everything in that we could, but it wouldn't fit.'' The airport is expected to be completed in 2013. Councilman Chuck Reed, the liaison between the airport commission and the council, said a battle over the size of the floor plans will probably be the first of many new struggles over the airport as the council begins in earnest to determine what is affordable. ``There is going to be a fight over the size, because there's a fight over everything at the airport,'' said Reed, who supports the increase. ``We're talking about the need to meet today's reality,'' he said. ``After Sept. 11, the number of people in the airport has physically changed. Everyone is there for two hours waiting. The original square footage was a `guestimate.' '' ``Personally,'' Reed said, ``I want more places to sit, more comfortable places that are spread out.'' Reed believes the council should approve the overall expansion -- to 1.7 million square-feet -- and deal with the budget implications next year when the building design is done. ``Eventually we will have to decide what money we can spend,'' he said. Councilman Dave Cortese, however, said he doesn't understand how the council could proceed and approve the increase Tuesday without first knowing the future costs. ``Somebody's got to tell us what the economics are here,'' Cortese said. ``We're at a crossroads of whether this thing is financially feasible over time, or whether it becomes the City Hall thing all over again, and the costs just keep going up and up and up.'' Fund sources listed The airport's construction costs will be paid for by airlines, concessionaires, bonds and grants from federal fees, not from the city's general tax funds. However, higher construction costs from building more elaborate passenger terminals could raise the airport's so-called cost-per-passenger, an airport statistic which, in part, indicates how much profit an airline can make operating at the facility. Currently San Jose's cost per boarded passenger is about $5, according to city statistics. By comparison, that cost at San Francisco International Airport -- after having recently completed a $2.6 billion construction project and other renovations -- is $21 per passenger. The high cost of doing business at San Francisco's airport has been blamed for driving away Southwest Airlines and other low-cost carriers from the airport. San Jose estimates that by 2007, the airport's per-passenger cost will spike to $15 because of the construction. Passenger-friendly Among members of the airport commission, the need to increase the size of the terminals from the master plan is no surprise. Even artists' renderings of the terminals that have been made public over the past year have included the added space, said airport spokeswoman Marina Renneke. That's because when architects began designing the North Concourse terminal and its increased security spaces, it quickly became apparent that a larger expansion of the floor space was going to be needed. ``The number we had before, we thought that was a good number,'' Renneke said. ``But after the security requirements, we know it won't work if we still want to build a passenger-friendly building.'' Jim Webb, Mayor Ron Gonzales' transportation adviser, said the mayor's office believes the increase is justified. Some in the community, however, are skeptical. Hayes speculated that the increased size of the terminals may be a way for the city to quietly lay the groundwork for building more gates and ultimately handling more flights, beyond what the long-term plan calls for. Helen Solinski, president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, whose members are affected by airport noise, said she's disappointed the city has done so little to inform residents about the proposed increase. ``People need to be aware of how big this thing is going to be, what money's being spent and how it is going to affect us all.''