Anti-Airport Report Is Called Into Question

A preliminary analysis released by a county commission Friday questions the validity of the conclusions in a report issued last month by South County cities opposed to a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The county’s analysis comes one day after the Southern California Assn. of Governments also criticized the South County report as containing misleading conclusions.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a self-appointed panel with no authority over the base, released its report Feb. 29 highlighting what it said were obstacles to building a commercial airport at El Toro and suggesting it would cost as much as $2.5 billion to open.

But an analysis requested by Gary Proctor, chairman of the Citizens Advisory Commission, which is overseeing base reuse plans on behalf of the county, suggests that the South County report jumps to conclusions that cannot be validated and appears biased against an airport.

However, Laguna Niguel City Manager Tim Casey, liaison to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, said the group’s report is the first to seriously consider the impacts of an airport at El Toro.

“We’re the first to ask these questions,” he said.

The critical analyses of the South County report come just days before voters go to the polls Tuesday to decide Measure S, which would repeal a proposal to build a commercial airport when the military closes the base by 1999.

In other developments Friday, Proctor defended himself against criticism that he has compromised his position with the Citizens Advisory Commission by publicly joining the No on Measure S campaign. Proctor said he wants the county to keep all its options open.

“The jury is out on what is the highest and best use for the base,” he said. “I don’t want to take away our options.”

Proctor’s comments came at a press conference he called Friday morning to complain about a series of maps being circulated by airport opponents that show flight paths crisscrossing the county.

Proctor said the maps purposely skewed the location of the base and speculated wildly about potential flight paths to frighten voters who have been previously unaffected by military flights at El Toro.

Casey, whose group was responsible for one of the maps, and other circulators defended the maps as fairly representing the potential impact of an airport at El Toro.