South County Cities to Sue Over El Toro Plans

Representatives from eight South County cities announced Wednesday that they are filing a lawsuit against the county to overturn plans to convert the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport.

The eight cities have long opposed a public airport at the site and are turning to the courts to head off Measure A, a countywide initiative approved by about 51% of voters in last November’s election. The cities involved in the lawsuit are: Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo and San Juan Capistrano.

South County officials said Measure A calls into question the county’s General Plan, a document indicating how the county expects to direct its growth, because the initiative did not adequately analyze and state the effects the airport would have on traffic, pollution and other aspects of life in the county.

“We feel strongly that we will win this suit in four to five months,” Irvine Mayor Mike Ward said.

But proponents of Measure A predicted a costly court battle. “The taxpayers of Orange County will get fleeced because this lawsuit is going nowhere and the only people who will benefit are the attorneys,” said David Ellis, spokesman for proponents of Measure A. “We will continue to plan for an airport, and the case will be a giant exercise in frustration.”

Officials from the eight South County cities said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that they expected to file the suit in Superior Court by today. .

“We all wanted to avoid litigation,” Mission Viejo City Manager Dan Joseph said. “This was our last resort.”

The city of Lake Forest, however, had tried to block Measure A in the courts before it was passed in November. Lake Forest lawyers asked a Superior Court judge to invalidate the initiative in August, but the judge ruled that it should be voted on.

As passed, the initiative changed the General Plan to allow the construction of a commercial airport at El Toro without state-required studies to assess the impacts of the project on the surrounding area, South County officials said.

“The General Plan now violates California state law,” Ward said. “It currently doesn’t address density, transportation, air pollution, noise or any of these elements.”

Proponents of the commercial airport at El Toro said they were not surprised by the lawsuit and that the measure was designed to withstand legal challenges. “We thoroughly analyzed the impacts,” Ellis said.