Airport Foes Call for United Front

With less than a year before the military pulls out of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, some in the anti-airport movement fear their side is launching too many offensives that will ultimately waste resources and weaken their cause.

Instead of rallying behind a single tactic in their effort to block an airport at El Toro, South County leaders are attacking on four fronts.

They are backing an anti-airport candidate in an effort to shift the balance on the Board of Supervisors this fall, while at the same time mounting a 1999 countywide referendum to halt El Toro planning.

Meanwhile, Irvine is proposing its own citywide ballot measure this fall on the Millennium Plan, South County’s non-airport proposal for the base. The city is also appraising the 4,700-acre base in a long-shot effort to block the airport by purchasing El Toro.

Some anti-airport leaders are quietly expressing concern that the efforts might dilute their resources and perplex voters at a time when they face a better-financed opposition.

“There may well be a risk of confusing the voters,” said Wayne Rayfield, chairman of the anti-airport El Toro Coalition, questioning the wisdom of Irvine’s proposed ballot measure. “Whenever you have an initiative, you need a certain amount of resources to clarify it and promote it. I’m not sure that this is a good use of those resources.”

Others, however, cautiously defend the multi-pronged approach, saying South County should pursue any and all avenues to block the airport.

“There is a long list of things we need to do to make sure an airport does not go into that base,” said Lake Forest Councilman Richard Dixon, also the chairman of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, an anti-airport coalition of seven South County cities.

The dispute over strategy has a familiar ring.

The anti-airport movement learned a valuable but painful lesson over the last four years in the airport battle: Lack of unity yields failure.

They failed to block Measure A, the 1994 ballot initiative that called for an airport at El Toro. Two-years later, their own measure aimed at scuttling the airport plan, Measure S, experienced a crushing defeat at the polls.

Over the past year, South County activists have made a concerted effort to pull together by gathering the various anti-airport groups under one umbrella organization. But lately, maintaining a single focus has proved difficult.

“I think that we have made some progress in trying to get the various anti-airport factions to work together, but it isn’t something that you can just do and declare that it’s done,” said Paul Eckles, executive director of the reuse planning authority, “It requires constant effort.”

Pro-airport forces have faced some of the same problems in their effort to line up behind a single message. But the stakes are especially high for South County given its failures to block the airport plan.

The South County’s next battle comes in November with a runoff election between Supervisor Jim Silva and Huntington Beach Councilman Dave Sullivan. Silva, part of the board’s 3-2 airport majority, has a strong fund-raising base in the business community. Sullivan is considered the underdog and is counting on South County financial backers for an upset victory.

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Privately, several top airport opponents have brought up concerns about the prospect of raising funds for Sullivan’s campaign while also gearing up for the 1999 countywide ballot measure, which is expect to be very expensive.

This past campaign reporting period, covering May 17 through June 30, Sullivan collected $17,500 in contributions compared with Silva’s $53,363. However, Sullivan said he’s optimistic contributions from anti-airport forces will pick up after Labor Day.

Potentially complicating matters is Irvine’s plan to ask its voters this November to consider the Millennium Plan, which calls for parks, homes, office towers, a football stadium but no airport on the base.

Irvine officials said the nonbinding vote is needed to establish residents’ views on the Millennium Plan.

“The [federal] government has always hinged their big decision on making this a countywide issue, but it’s the citizens of Irvine who will be directly impacted,” said Councilman Mike Ward. “The measure lets the City Council know what the citizens of Irvine think about the future of El Toro.”

Irvine is generally considered anti-airport. But some South County leaders fear that pro-airport forces could mount an aggressive campaign on the Irvine referendums, forcing airport foes to put money into the campaign.

“This will be the first shot across the bow, and they put up the target,” said former Newport Beach Mayor Clarence Turner, now head of the Airport Working Group PAC.

Bruce Nestande, head of the pro-airport Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, which spent $1.5 million on Measure A and nearly the same to defeat Measure S, said his group was already preparing for next year’s proposed countywide referendum.

“Campaigns are always tough, and we have never entered any campaign lightly. We are going to go hard.”

Another source of concern is Irvine’s idea of purchasing the base. The city is hoping to finish an appraisal of the facility by September in the hope of making a purchase offer to the federal government by July.

But some officials wonder whether the idea is plausible, especially considering the potential cost and the byzantine base closure laws that may preclude the city from purchasing the property at all.

“The concept is nice, but I’m not sure that it is doable per se,” Dixon said.

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Under the base-closure process, a military base can be given away or sold at less than market value if the property becomes an airport. The county plans to take advantage of this discounted price. But if the property is not developed as an airport, then it may be sold at or above market value.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) has been pushing for a sale of the Marine base in part to help pay for relocating the military operation from El Toro to the Naval Air Station at Miramar in San Diego. “In general, I think selling the land would be good for taxpayers without question,” Cox said. “This is still very much alive.”

But the cost of buying the base and laying out the infrastructure for development will likely cost billions of dollars.

Irvine Councilman Dave Christensen said the city is discussing two ways of acquiring the base.

The first option would have the city purchase the property through a revenue bond that would have to be approved by Irvine voters. The bonds would be backed by a developer, but the city would be the land owner, Christensen said.

The other option is buying the property piecemeal and eventually purchasing the entire base, Christensen said.