Newport gives $150,000 more for airport fight

Stacy Brown

NEWPORT BEACH -- As part of their continuing effort to ensure that a

commercial airport at El Toro becomes a reality, the City Council on

Monday approved a $150,000 grant to the Orange County Regional Airport

Authority.

In a letter to City Manager Homer Bludau, the airport authority’s

executive director Peggy Ducey said the organization needed the money to

continue its work with a membership that has doubled to 15 cities in the past six months.

The money would be well spent, she added, because those cities have

pledged their resources to fight for an airport at the former Marine Air

Base.

Within the next year, the county is expected to complete the El Toro

reuse planning process and submit an environmental impact report and the

airport master plan to the federal goverment for review and final

conveyance.

Bludau said that as the airport authority’s membership has grown, “its

ability to influence the El Toro process has grown.” The cities’ combined

resources -- from monetary and public relations capabilities -- will help

get out the proper information about plans for the El Toro airport.

“They also have public officials and business leaders that are ready and

willing to become more involved in the El Toro issue, both as advocates

within their own communities and as leaders with other local, state and

federal leaders and officials,” Bludau said.

To date, Newport Beach has contributed more than $600,000 to pro-El Toro

groups including the Orange County Airport Alliance, the Airport Working

Group and Citizen’s for Jobs and the Economy.

How much is enough?

Is there a limit on how much money Newport Beach should provide in the

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