Pro-airport agency sues over Measure W

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- A group that supports a proposed El Toro international

airport filed a lawsuit Monday to overturn Measure W, which rezones the

former Marine base to allow a Great Park.

The Orange County Regional Airport Authority, a loose coalition of

North County cities that includes Costa Mesa, filed the challenge,

claiming the initiative is “unconstitutional, invalid and unenforceable.”

The anti-airport measure passed March 5 with a 58% countywide

approval.

The airport authority’s board endorsed the lawsuit at a meeting

Wednesday.

“We’re still alive,” Costa Mesa Councilman Chris Steel said about the

prospects for an airport at the base. “We’re still in the game, and we’re

somewhat optimistic” about the legal challenge.

Steel is Costa Mesa’s representative on the airport authority’s

14-member board.

The authority filed the lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court on

Monday. Joining the lawsuit are the Airport Working Group, Citizens for

Jobs and the Economy, Garden Grove and Tom Naughton, who is the working

group’s president.

Nine North County cities, including Costa Mesa, voted to support the

move at Wednesday’s meeting. Newport Beach Councilman Gary Proctor, who

represents his city on the panel, was absent. Four other cities -- Buena

Park, Placentia, Seal Beach and Yorba Linda -- also did not attend.

The airport authority “has been on record that El Toro is a regional

asset, and that this lawsuit is necessary to protect the interests of our

constituents,” Cypress Mayor Linda Sondhi said.

The suit challenges Measure W, which invalidated 1994’s Measure A, on

several legal grounds. Measure A initially installed aviation zoning at

the base.

But Measure W paves the way for the county to develop a plan for the

4,700-acre base that would include a large amount of open space. The

county has been pushing, since 1994, to build an airport at the base.

Measure W proponents said the challenge smacked of desperation from

airport supporters.

“It’s a desperate last chance,” said Len Kranser, the initiative’s

spokesman. “They’re trying to do in court what they couldn’t do at the

ballot box. They’re trying to overturn the will of the people.”

The lawsuit challenging Measure W claims the initiative is

unconstitutional because base reuse decisions cannot legally be made by

voters, said Fred Woocher, a coauthor of the lawsuit.

Woocher cited a 1996 bill sponsored by former Assembly Speaker Curt

Pringle that named the Board of Supervisors as the entity empowered to

drive the base reuse process.

Of course, the Department of Defense has also named the county the

formal planner for the federally owned land. But, on March 6 -- the day

after the election -- the Navy signaled its plans to sell off parcels of

the base to the highest bidder.

The lawsuit also challenges Measure W as “vague and deceptive,” Garden

Grove Councilman Mark Rosen said in a statement.

The passage of the initiative won’t result in a Great Park, Woocher

said, and may even lead to commercial development.

“We think they crafted a document which is not legally sustainable,”

Woocher said, “but is a document which was intended to get people to vote

for something they aren’t going to get.”

Newport Beach has yet to sign onto the lawsuit. Mayor Tod Ridgeway

could not be reached Monday.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .