Los Angeles International Airport should be permitted to proceed with its modernization plans, according to a staff report released Thursday for the Los Angeles County Airport Land Use Commission.

The five-member commission will meet March 27 to consider the report, which focused on airport plans to separate two runways by 260 feet to enhance safety. Some neighborhood groups, many of which fear the change will create more noise and pollution, had hoped the staff report would result in the delay of the project.

But Mark Child, assistant administrator at the Department of Regional Planning, said the commission has limited remedies at this stage. Staff merely found LAX's plans pose no direct conflict with the policies of the land-use commission.

"What's before the ALUC right now is really a small and focused piece of what is before the city," Child said.

He said the commission will review these projects a second time after more detailed project-level environmental reviews are completed, which will be at least two years from now.

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