Airport proponents sue Navy

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Groups still holding out hope for an El Toro airport

sued the Navy on Wednesday, saying an environmental review of park,

business and other uses was done prematurely.

The Airport Working Group, Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, and the

Orange County Regional Airport Authority signed on to the suit to force a

new review.

The environmental review in question, which was released April 23,

analyzed an earlier, non-aviation project designed well before plans for

the “Great Park” approved by voters in March.

“It’s totally flawed,” said Barbara Lichman, the executive director

and lead attorney with the working group. “It’s absolutely invalid.”

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

It’s the second suit by the groups after the March 5 passage of

Measure W. The groups have challenged that initiative, which rezoned the

Marine Corps Air Station from aviation to open space. The suit is now

pending in Los Angeles Superior Court and is expected to be resolved by

the end of the year.

Irvine is seeking to annex the base’s land and develop the former

aviation “buffer zone” surrounding it, both moves that could end hopes

for an airport at the closed base.

Wednesday’s suit could halt those planning efforts and derail the

development of the base into a “Great Park” or some other project

permitted by Measure W.

Measure W also allows a number of open space uses, which include light

industrial, housing and other development.

South County groups said they were surprised by the suit, saying

federal law was more open-ended and permitted a broad definition of the

park project.

“I think it’s a desperation sign,” said Richard Jacobs, the attorney

for a coalition of anti-airport South County cities. “Support for an

airport is down to the old band of hard-core supporters. They’re just

flailing at this point.”

The 43-page suit criticizes the validity of the Navy’s review and

eventual Record of Decision -- the document that maps out how the base

would be used when transferred from federal to local hands -- in a number

of ways.

Navy officials also didn’t examine the “cumulative impact” of the

entire project, including a 12,000-home development recently approved by

Irvine adjacent to the base, the pro-airport groups allege.

Jacobs also said the groups had shot themselves in the foot by suing

the Navy, because they would now be permanently cut out of the planning

process.

But the suit will force the Navy to talk, Lichman said.

“You try to get them to listen to you [outside of the courts],”

Lichman said. “When we’re finished, they’re going to talk to us.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .