Airport Foes Mull Their Next Moves

They lost two countywide elections. There was a decisive courtroom defeat. The latest setback is an Orange County report portraying an international airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in near glowing terms.

Weary opponents in South County find themselves asking: Is an airport at El Toro a done deal?

“There’s no question that if you let your mind wander, it could go in that direction,” concedes Bill Kogerman, co-chairman of a group dedicated to fighting plans to turn the 4,700-acre military base into an international airport. “But we’re trying not to let that happen. We have an awful lot of focused people who say the fat guy hasn’t sung yet.”

The 10-volume analysis released this week envisions an international airport serving more than 38 million passengers a year as the best possible reuse option when the military departs the base in mid-1999. And if that’s not bad enough--from South County’s perspective--officials are setting room aside on the vast base for services for the homeless and a potential spot for a county jail.

Despite a string of disappointments and losses, South County residents who live nearest the base have not conceded the fight. They spent Friday licking their wounds and plotting their next strategy, which includes everything from a protest at the Aug. 27 Orange County Board of Supervisors’ meeting to other ways to throw a wrench in the plan.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, made up of South County cities that have no power over the base but have joined forces, is expected to meet later this month to plan a course of action, including having their consultants look for ways to poke holes into the county’s study during the 45-day public review period.

South County cities are also mulling their legal options. They are already appealing a March court ruling in which a San Diego Superior Court judge upheld the results of the first countywide election calling for an airport at El Toro.

Additional lawsuits are likely, said Laguna Niguel Mayor Patricia C. Bates, who is also a member of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

“It’s not over by any means,” vowed Bates. “Five-hundred-thousand people aren’t going to have a silent voice.”

Laguna Niguel Councilman Mark Goodman is one of the few upbeat voices, predicting that the county’s report will ultimately backfire. The county refuses to admit it, but safety concerns and base limitations will make an international airport unworkable, he said.

“I’m still very optimistic that the county will not put in an international airport at El Toro,” Goodman said.

Orange County Supervisor Marian Bergeson, whose district encompasses the base, said she will pursue efforts to extend the 45-day comment period, even if it means asking the military to also extend its deadline. Military officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Some have warned that the federal government, fed up with the local squabbling, might respond by coming up with its own reuse plan--one that might not please anyone in any part of the county. That might not be a bad option in itself, Bergeson said Friday.

“Could a 38 million-passenger airport be any worse than what the Navy could come up with for us?” Bergeson said.

David Ellis, a spokesman for airport backers, was opposed to any delays.

“This has been the most studied piece of property in Orange County’s history,” Ellis said. “We need to move forward and get this facility on line.”

Bergeson said she will also try to resolve a scheduling conflict. The county is holding an “open house” in Lake Forest on Aug. 27 to present the highlights of the El Toro study. That’s the same night that a group of South County residents planned to go the Board of Supervisors’ monthly night meeting to voice their concern about the base’s future.

“I’m guessing there is some subterfuge there,” Kogerman said.

County staffers said they were unaware of the planned protest, noting that no El Toro items are on the agenda at the board’s night meeting. But officials said they will look into finding a way to resolve the conflict.

County staffers have been accused of cooking up the numbers to make an airport the most attractive option. But they say the report is a factual and unbiased one that will ultimately withstand criticism--both inside and outside of court.

“This is the truth, it’s factual, some people out there don’t believe that,” said O.B. Schooley, John Wayne Airport director and a lead county official on the El Toro study. “But this is a document that is going to have to stand up to litigation.”

After a 45-day public comment period, the report will be finalized and the county will be asked to make its final reuse decision. The project is barreling forward to meet a mid-December deadline to submit the plan to the federal government, which has the final word on the base’s reuse.