Orange County Focus is dedicated on Monday to analysis of community news, a look at what’s ahead and the voices of local people. : Anti-Airport Measure Is Opposed by City Council
The City Council last week took a strong stand against the airport-related Measure S that will be on the March 26 ballot.
The initiative would cancel the previously passed Measure A, which calls for converting El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport.
The City Council in 1994 supported Measure A, saying that Orange County needs another airport and the jobs it would purportedly create.
Measure S, the council said, would create “legal hurdles for airport development that effectively eliminate an airport conversion at El Toro.”
A resolution, passed unanimously, denounces Measure S and urges its defeat.
Councilman Bob Bell told the council that conversion of the El Toro base would provide many economic benefits to the county. “We need economic growth of this kind,” Bell said.
According to the council’s resolution, more than 53,000 jobs would be created by a new commercial airport.
Critics, however, including cities in South County, have challenged the economic predictions and have also argued that a new airport would be an environmental disaster.
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