Measure S Backers Will Keep Fighting El Toro Airport Plan

Opponents of a commercial airport proposed for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station admitted defeat Wednesday, but vowed that--despite the surprisingly decisive failure of Measure S--their fight is far from over.

“This match goes 15 rounds and they only won the first two,” said Laguna Niguel City Councilman Mark Goodman, who argued against an airport at community debates before Tuesday’s election.

Although a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of the vote isn’t available yet, airport foes partly blamed the loss of Measure S on the apparent inability to mobilize a stronger voter turnout in South County, where opposition to the airport is stiff, and some confusion over the language in the measure.

“I think it’s possible we could have done a better job,” admitted Bert Hack, co-chairman of Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, an activist group that placed Measure S on the ballot. “I think if there had been a big South County turnout, it might have been quite different.”

Measure S sought to repeal Measure A, which was narrowly passed by county voters in 1994 and called for a commercial airport at El Toro. Measure S was soundly defeated Tuesday 59.8% to 40.2%, according to the latest results released Wednesday by the Orange County registrar of voters office.

The pro-airport victors were jubilant.

“We’ve now had two votes countywide for progress,” said David Ellis, a top consultant to Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, the No on Measure S campaign. “I think that the voters look at opportunity at El Toro, something that will move this county ahead.”

The demise of Measure S does not mean an airport is automatically slated for El Toro.

But after a bitterly contested election that saw more than $2 million raised for dueling campaign mailers and other advertisements to sway voters, airport opponents are right back where they started--leaving the county, rather than the ballot box, in charge of plotting the base’s future.

South County residents who live nearest the base, which will be abandoned by the Marines by 1999, have been upset that they do not have a specific decision-making role along with the Orange County Board of Supervisors when it comes to the base reuse plan.

On Wednesday, airport opponents were chastened by the loss, yet remained defiant.

“We haven’t lost a war, we lost a battle,” said Irvine Mayor Mike Ward, who said South County city leaders and airport foes still have some ammunition in reserve, such as appealing a recent Superior Court ruling that upheld the validity of Measure A.

Ward said it is also possible that antiairport forces will take legal action against the county for allegedly failing to include South County cities in the base reuse planning process.

He called an emergency meeting today of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority--a self-appointed panel of South County leaders that has no authority over the base but seeks to include the concerns of their constituents in the planning process.

The election’s outcome did not affect the county planning process.

“Our goal today is the same as it was before the election, planning the best reuse for the base,” said Courtney Wiercioch, a county official helping to oversee the base reuse planning process.

County officials have said they are dedicated to studying both aviation and non-aviation uses for the base.

Supervisor Marian Bergeson said Wednesday the Measure S defeat may have a silver lining: encouraging both sides, after two bruising battles, to begin communicating.

Bergeson is calling an April 30 public hearing that she hopes will lead to South County cities landing a specific decision-making role in the base reuse planning process now left up to the Board of Supervisors.

“We have to get past all this,” said Bergeson, whose district includes the base.

Laguna Niguel Mayor Patricia C. Bates said it is time to recognize the concerns of South County residents who fear an airport, namely more noise and traffic and lower property values.

“The people have spoken--there was an election and they made a decision,” Bates said. But the study of potential land uses “has to be something that meets the promise that all uses are being considered.”

While airport backers, who see the facility as an economic boon, were celebrating their success, the supporters of the Yes on S campaign were pondering what went wrong.

They blamed the loss on a complicated initiative, their having failed to mobilize the South County vote and their foes’ experience.

Many Measure S campaign leaders had little campaign experience and found themselves going up against savvy opponents they accused of running a campaign heavy on scare tactics--a contention that was reciprocated.

Measure S foes warned voters that a prison or jail would be likely candidates for the base if an airport were not an option. And Measure S opponents accused the measure’s backers of also trying to frighten voters by circulating maps depicting flight paths all over the county.

Hack, of Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, said that South County residents were outmatched by the likes of wealthy developer George Argyros, who almost single-handedly provided more than $1 million in loans to the No on Measure S campaign.

“We were trying to take on the power structure, special interest groups, and that’s not easy in Orange County,” Hack said.

Argyros was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but Ellis refuted the notion that the campaigns were mismatched, noting that Hack’s group raised more than $800,000--most of it from Leisure World Laguna Hills residents who fear an airport’s noise and traffic.

Speculating on the defeat, Ellis said the campaign was directed at a small segment of the county.

“Absent the residents living directly under the flight paths at El Toro, I don’t think the antiairport side offered a compelling enough reason for people to come out and vote,” Ellis said. “People don’t want to give up their option to have an airport.”

Voter confusion and the fact that North County voters outnumber South County’s nearly 3-to-1 made turnout in South County critical, observers said.

Hack said his office received nearly 30 calls Wednesday from distraught voters who said they had voted “no” on Measure S in the belief it nullified an airport.

Mayor Ward said he couldn’t understand why more South County voters didn’t turn out.

“We were banking that we had the passion on this issue,” Ward said. “I don’t know what happened.”

More Coverage of Local Elections

* BOOST FOR BAUGH: Absentees and a split vote helped Scott Baugh keep Assembly seat. A25

* BITTER LOSS: Leisure World residents stunned by Measure S loss. A23

* TOO CLOSE TO CALL: GOP race in 71st Assembly District not yet decided. A23

* SURPRISE VICTOR: Loretta Sanchez will face Rep. Robert K. Dornan. B1

* CRYPTIC MESSAGE: County charter defeat leaves officials guessing. B6

* COVERAGE: A3, A23-25

* RESULTS: A20-22