Measure S Not Exactly a Yes or No Proposition

Pity the Orange County voter trying to make heads or tails of Measure S. Opponents say it’s all about killing a commercial airport proposed for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Supporters say it’s all about carefully planning the future of the base.

And they’re both right.

If Measure S passes on March 26, it would repeal Measure A, a ballot initiative that squeaked by at the polls in November 1994 and changed the county’s General Plan to allow a commercial airport to be built when the military abandons the base. Measure S also forces the county to set up a new planning process for the future of the base.

“It levels the planning field,” said Bill Kogerman, a co-chairman for Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, the group responsible for putting Measure S on the ballot. “It levels it and forces an objective review of what the highest and best use is for the base, not one that demands an airport.”

But opponents say voters need to look at the fine print. Measure S goes beyond simply repealing the earlier measure, they say.

Even if a new planning process ended up backing an airport at El Toro, if would first have to meet inflexible environmental demands and require yet another countywide election--obstacles that couldn’t be overcome, according to foes of Measure S.

“This is an antiairport measure: they should be truthful about it,” said former Orange County supervisor and state assemblyman Bruce Nestande, who is president of the Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, the pro-airport campaign.

Ballot measures are traditionally thumbs up or thumbs down propositions. But Measure S is one of the most complicated ever put before Orange County voters, which might explain why a recent poll shows nearly a fifth of voters haven’t made up their minds on one of the most critical land-use decisions in county history.

“This is not an easy issue for people to understand,” said Mark Baldassare, a UCI professor of urban planning who polled likely voters and found 19% undecided.

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Adding to the confusion is a flurry of contradicting consultant reports, some suggesting that regional aviation demand is growing, others finding little need for a second facility just a few miles from John Wayne Airport.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has embarked upon a $2.7-million study of reuses once the military abandons the El Toro base within the next three years. The supervisors appointed the Citizens Advisory Commission to come up with three base reuse options, including one that does not place an airport at El Toro.

One of the commission’s first reports was a preliminary proposal of six non-aviation options for the base, including residential units, research and development centers and even sports and recreation centers.

But the heart of the Measure S campaign comes down to mistrust of county government.

Measure S backers disregard the commission, saying it is biased in part because developer George Argyros--who spent $700,000 of his own money to support an airport at El Toro--sits on the commission.

Kogerman wants the county to hire independent consultants from the outside to work along with the county’s Planning Department to craft options for the reincarnation of the base site.

But Nestande and other critics wonder why Measure S leaves the planning in the county’s hands if the county can’t be trusted to complete the study already underway.

The reason, he said, is “because it’s not about planning, it’s about stopping an airport.”

Kogerman concedes that Measure S takes aim at an airport, but insists that he could support an airport if an objective study that considered environmental and economic impacts showed it would be the best use of the base.

“We are not antiairport, and I resent being portrayed that way,” Kogerman said.

Commission Chairman Gary Proctor said he is stunned by complaints that the panel is biased. He said the panel is made up of people who endorse an airport, oppose it and others--like himself--who haven’t made up their minds. The panel is committed to studying all options, which is supposed to be exactly what Measure S wants, he said.

“We are doing this objectively,” Proctor said. “We are working hard to balance the quality of life against and with the need for the best economic engine that we can find for this county.”

Proctor said voters who oppose an airport should be warned that the alternatives could be worse. Currently, the state Department of Corrections and the county Sheriff’s Department and Probation Department have each requested space at El Toro for prison, jail and juvenile detention facilities, he said.

Noise restrictions could prevent inmates from being housed so close to an airport, he said. But if an aviation option isn’t on the table, it will be harder to block a corrections facility from moving in, Proctor said.

Measure S supporters call this a scare tactic, and say political opposition would prevent the base from ever being used for jails or prisons.

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The debate over El Toro is one of the most divisive in county history, pitting North County residents who think an airport will bring economic gains against South County residents who live closest to the base and are convinced an airport will mean noise, traffic and falling home values.

It’s also playing a pivotal role in two Republican assembly races.

In the 70th District race, incumbent Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Irvine) has refused to take a position on Measure S. In the 71st District race to replace Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange), four of the five candidates support Measure S.

The divisions will just worsen if Measure S passes, said county Supervisor Marian Bergeson, who said she will not support Measure S because she is opposed to “ballot box planning.”

“If Measure S passes, then you’ll have another rival initiatives and we’ll have dueling measures forever,” said Bergeson, who hopes to forge a compromise by expanding the county’s planning process to give South County city leaders a greater say on the base reuse plan.

“It’s time for us to settle down and have an opportunity to heal,” Bergeson said.

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Airport Vote Redux

The fate of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is once again going to a vote. In November 1994, voters narrowly endorsed Measure A, which proposed developing a commercial airport when the military abandons the 4,700-acre base. A rival initiative goes before voters March 26. Measure S would:

* Repeal Measure A. States that the best use for the base is “not a civilian airport” and adopts studies asserting that the county “does not need another commercial airport” in the near future.

* Leave the final planning decision in the hands of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, but abolishes the Citizens Advisory Commission. The panel was appointed by the board to craft three base reuse options, including one that does not call for a commercial airport.

* Bar the county from building any new airport facilities until 2015.

* Require environmental impacts of any future airport to be mitigated to a level of “insignificance.”

* Mandate a third countywide election if revised planning process endorses an airport.

ARGUMENTS FOR MEASURE S

* Forces Board of Supervisors to revamp planning process and recognize antiairport sentiment.

* Determines best reuse for base.

* Provides public with information about environmental and economic impacts of a potential base reuse plan.

* Overturns what backers claim is current “special interests” stronghold pressuring county to endorse a second airport.

* Shuts environmental “loopholes.”

ARGUMENTS AGAINST MEASURE S

* Precludes honest assessment of all base reuse options by putting obstacles before an airport.

* Means loss of thousands of potential jobs produced by another airport.

* Leaving county supervisors in charge of base planning proves pro-Measure S campaign is about stopping an airport and not about better planning.

* Airport could not meet rigid environmental standards set down by Measure S.

* South County NIMBYs (“not in my back yard”) are strong-arming county’s planning process.

Sources: Times reports, issue campaigns; Researched by RENE LYNCH / Los Angeles Times