Newport Beach out of Measure W fight

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- One of the biggest proponents of the proposed El

Toro airport backed out of the fight Tuesday as Mayor Tod Ridgeway

announced the city will forgo a role in the legal challenge of Measure W

and halt nearly a decade of pro-airport spending.

Ridgeway made the announcement on the heels of Monday’s filing of a

lawsuit by other cities and the Airport Working Group to try to overturn

the initiative in court.

Measure W, which rezones the closed Marine base for use as a park,

passed on a 58% countywide margin March 5.

City officials had previously indicated they would shift their

attention to the effort to nail down an extension of the flight

restrictions at John Wayne Airport rather than continue the lengthy and

arduous El Toro battle.

“Our focus is on the extension agreement,” Ridgeway said of efforts to

extend the caps at the airport past their 2005 expiration date. “El Toro

is now properly before the entire Southern California region. . . . It is

a county issue and not a Newport Beach issue.”

Since 1994, when Orange County planners began developing an airport

blueprint for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Newport Beach has

spent $10.94 million to aid the airport cause.

That spending is expected to halt, Ridgeway said.

Airport supporters plan to soldier on without the city involved,

working group spokesman Dave Ellis said.

A week ago, Costa Mesa and eight other North County cities endorsed

the legal challenge via their seats on the Orange County Regional Airport

Authority.

“We’re supportive of their uninvolvement,” Ellis said. “Newport Beach

is out of this. . . . Now there are other entities that are taking the

baton and running with it.”

Ellis said the working group has no plans to seek further grant funds

from the city. Founded in 1981 to halt county plans to expand John Wayne,

the group has received $4.35 million since 1993 to build support

countywide for an airport at the closed base.

The county has spent about $50 million on the cause, most to develop

an extensive environmental review and detailed plans for the project.

South County cities have poured about $40 million into their anti-airport

cause.

Newport Beach’s decision to back off from the legal fight to overturn

Measure W also comes in the midst of swirling changes in the political

winds at the county level.

Fullerton Councilman Chris Norby’s defeat of Supervisor Cynthia Coad

on March 5 will tilt the 3-2 pro-airport board majority to a 3-2

anti-airport majority when he takes his seat next year.

Norby’s central campaign plank called for the shelving of the airport.

On Feb. 26, supervisors unanimously approved the city’s plan to extend

flight restrictions at John Wayne until 2015. City officials said that

unified front would help solidify the deal in Washington, D.C., with the

Federal Aviation Administration and any other agencies that could have a

hand in approving any final deal.

Not surprisingly, South County leaders lauded the city for stepping

out of the El Toro quagmire.

Meg Waters, the spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority,

said the move would help the county heal the sharp divide over how to use

the base.

“I hope it’s a sign that the city of Newport Beach can work toward our

mutual best interest,” Waters said. “It’s time to stop spending a lot of

the public money.”

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

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

[email protected] .