Costa Mesa set to oppose anti-airport initiative

Paul Clinton

COSTA MESA -- The City Council is moving toward opposing Measure W,

which would halt plans for an El Toro airport and instead open the door

for a park at the closed Marine base.

At its Tuesday meeting, the council is scheduled to vote on a

resolution opposing the South County-backed measure. Councilman Gary

Monahan said he is confident the item would pass, though it might need a

rewrite.

The initiative “is not in our best interests because it doesn’t allow

any possibility of an airport,� Monahan said. “We’ll definitely be

supportive of a resolution. The one as worded needs some tuning.

Hopefully, we’ll have an alternative the majority can be supportive of.�

Costa Mesa is considered one of the John Wayne Airport corridor

cities, which sits under the airport’s flight path. Newport Beach bears

the biggest brunt of flights.

In a Jan. 16 staff report, City Manager Allan Roeder recommended that

the council adopt a boilerplate resolution being passed around by the

Orange County Regional Airport Authority.

That agency, a loose coalition of North County cities, sent the

four-page resolution out to all its members. Councilman Chris Steel, who

also supports the resolution but could not be reached for comment, is the

city’s representative on the authority’s board.

Back on Oct. 23, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved an

environmental analysis for an airport at the former base that would

accommodate 18.8 million passengers a year. That would be almost three

times the size of John Wayne.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan, who supports an airport at the base but not

the county’s plan, wants changes to the authority’s resolution to get a

“more simply worded� resolution.

Cowan said she doesn’t support initiatives such as Measure W that

allow the public to substitute for qualified planners on major projects.

Measure W changes the zoning at the base to allow for a Great Park.

“I tend not to support any initiative that uses land-use planning by

ballot box,� Cowan said. “Emotion and politics and money are going to

drive the process. Whoever can buy the best, most convincing ads will

win.�

Mayor Linda Dixon and Councilwoman Karen Robinson did not return calls

for comment.

Initiative supporters said they weren’t troubled by the city’s

possible move. Costa Mesa’s council didn’t take a position on Measure F,

the successful March 2000 initiative that would have required a

two-thirds public approval for any new airport, jail or landfill.

Other cities that did take a stance against it were rebuffed by county

voters, said Len Kranser, the spokesman of the pro-Measure W effort.

“Our experience with Measure F is that it didn’t matter what city

councils did,� Kranser said. “People still voted based on their personal

analysis of the issue.�

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

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

[email protected] .