NEW YORK – The Port Authority’s board of commissioners adopted a draft $29.5 billion capital plan for 2017-2026 on Thursday, but not before they heard two appeals to change it.

One was from a contingent of New Jersey legislators who wanted more than $3.5 billion committed toward the construction of a new Port Authority Bus Terminal, a project that could easily cost as much as $10 billion.

And the other was from Louis Heimbach, chairman of the Stewart Airport Commission, who wanted $20 million committed toward the construction of a U.S. Customs facility to process international flights at the Orange County airport.

Pointing out that the expansion of the terminal to accommodate a federal inspection station has been an on-again, off-again project since 2011, Heimbach speculated that the Port Authority had concluded “If we build it, they will come” wasn’t a viable rationale for this investment.

“Well, they’re coming,’’ Heimbach said. “Norwegian Air is coming.”

The budget carrier announced in December that it wanted to begin low-cost flights between Stewart and Europe as soon as it takes delivery of new Boeing 737 planes in July. The prospect immediately raised concerns among Stewart boosters that the delay in expanding the terminal would compromise the plan.

The Port Authority has refused to comment on Norwegian, but a U.S. Customs spokesman said his agency would be able to adjust its operations at Stewart to handle regularly scheduled commercial passenger flights.

Heimbach got an appreciative laugh from the audience when he added that he had “nothing to trade off with you” in exchange for the $20 million.

New Jersey legislators had complained that the two states’ governors had abandoned any clear-eyed assessment of regional needs and turned the development of the capital plan into “a Monopoly game,” “a quid pro quo plan,” “a personal slush fund” and “a political horse-trade.’’

They were especially harsh in their opinion that the bus terminal was playing second fiddle to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ambitions to redevelop LaGuardia Airport, despite the fact that the bus terminal serves 2 1/2 times as many passengers a year.

Heimbach wrote to John Degnan, the Port Authority’s chairman, in November, when the agency’s 2017 capital and operating budgets were released, to question the omission of funding for the federal inspection station. Construction had been scheduled to begin this year.

Thomas Bosco, the retiring aviation director, responded, saying his department was completing the project’s design and intended “to push for board authorization to award a construction contract at the earliest opportunity” despite the uncertainty about the 2017-2026 capital plan. Bosco called the federal inspection station “vitally important to Stewart’s future.”

Norwegian received federal authorization to expand its U.S. presence 10 days later.

As he was leaving the meeting Thursday, Heimbach said he was approached by Michael Wojnar, Cuomo’s assistant secretary for transportation, who introduced himself and told him, “We’ve got to make this happen.”

The Port Authority will now hold public hearings on the draft capital plan, on Jan. 31 in Manhattan and on Feb. 7 in Jersey City, N.J., and then adjust and adopt it on Feb. 16. Details of the plan and the hearings, as well as an online comment form, are posted at www.panynj.gov.

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