Lake Forest / San Juan Capistrano : 2 More Cities Vote Airport Study Funds

South County cities opposing the conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport have reached near unanimity in jointly funding a $250,000 study to come up with alternative uses for the 4,700-acre property.

Lake Forest and San Juan Capistrano agreed Tuesday to help with the funding, and the only South County city yet to join the study, Laguna Hills, is scheduled to consider the issue next Tuesday.

The coalition of cities, known as the South County Working Group, is counting on the study as a major weapon in the campaign against converting the air base into a major commercial airport once the facility is closed because of federal military cutbacks. An initiative to build the airport will go to the voters on the November ballot.

Besides supporting a study, Lake Forest decided Tuesday to take direct action against the El Toro Airport Initiative, with council members agreeing to file a lawsuit to remove the measure from the ballot.

But airport supporters said Wednesday that the coalition’s tactics will not be effective.

“I think it is just a waste of time and money,” said Irv Pickler, an Anaheim councilman and member of the Orange County Regional Airport Authority, a group of North County cities pushing for the airport.

“If they feel they can beat the initiative--and that’s possible in a court of law--more power to them,” Pickler said. “I don’t remember any initiative that has qualified for the ballot being thrown out prior to it being voted on.”

The Orange County Regional Airport Authority had asked the South County coalition if it could contribute ideas and funding to the land-use study but was turned down by South County officials, who said the request came too late.

“We’d like to contribute and be a part of that study,” Pickler said. “Let’s make it encompass all, and we’ll pick up our fair share of the costs.”

Although the South County cities have nearly all approved contributing for the study, some dissenting voices on the city councils have been heard.

In both Lake Forest and San Juan Capistrano, appropriations to fund the study passed on 3-2 votes.

Lake Forest Councilwoman Helen Wilson said the study might not be ready for up to 14 weeks, just before the November election.

“If our goal isn’t to create a unified mailing piece opposing the airport measure, (the study) just doesn’t make sense,” Wilson said.

In San Juan Capistrano, Councilman Gil Jones said he is uncomfortable spending money on an issue that he believes serves only two or three cities.

“I have a problem spending (city funds) in a political sinkhole,” he said. “This is a north-south issue at this time.”

Officials in other South County cities have estimated that the study could be ready in six weeks.

The consultant being hired, Kotein, Regan & Mouchly Inc., will be asked to look at several previous airport studies, some of which have concluded that the El Toro site isn’t viable for a commercial airfield.