El Toro Foes: ‘No Airport, No Compromise!’

Three different commissions overseeing plans for the future of the Marine Corps’ El Toro base handed a string of defeats last week to airport opponents, who have already lost two elections and one legal challenge aimed at blocking the base’s transformation into a commercial airport capable of serving millions of airline passengers.

But don’t expect the predominantly South County airport opponents to begin talking compromise just yet.

“No airport, no compromise” is the new rallying cry, said Bert Hack, a co-chairman of Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, one of several groups leading the fight against an El Toro airport.

Outgoing County Supervisor Don Saltarelli and former Supervisor Marian Bergeson have tried in the past to broker some kind of an agreement between the warring factions within their districts, which together encircle the El Toro base and are home to some of the most ardent opponents and proponents of a commercial airport there.

But the opponents, who live in the southern reaches of Saltarelli’s and Bergeson’s districts--and beneath the proposed airport’s flight paths--see little to be gained by adopting the tactics employed by the residents of Newport Beach, who in the planning stages for John Wayne Airport successfully fought for a ban on night flights and limits on passenger and cargo service.

“There’s no question an airport will be at El Toro; the question is what kind of an airport will it be,” said Clarence J. Turner, former Newport Beach mayor and president of the Airport Working Group, which won those concessions at John Wayne Airport.

But those leading the South County charge against the county’s apparent plans for El Toro say that any airport, even one with a ban on night flights, will make their lives miserable.

“These [environmental] impacts terrify south Orange County,” said Laguna Niguel Mayor Patricia C. Bates. She points out that the county’s environmental impact report has no assurances to residents that steps will be taken to lessen or mitigate the increased road traffic and aviation noise that would inevitably accompany construction of a commercial airport.

*

The county report analyzed three scenarios for future civilian use of the 4,700-acre base, which is scheduled to be abandoned by the military by 1999.

Those options included an international passenger-cargo airport serving up to 38.3 million passengers a year, a cargo-general aviation airport and something completely different: ripping up the existing runways to build homes, businesses, tourist attractions and recreational facilities.

Last Wednesday, the Orange County Airport Commission and the El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission voted to support plans to transform the base into a passenger-cargo airport. Then, the Orange County Planning Commission on Thursday voted 4 to 1 to endorse the county’s environmental impact report as adequate.

The recommendations now go to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which is tentatively scheduled to take up the matter at a meeting beginning at 1 p.m. on Dec. 10.

Two of the supervisors who will vote on the issue--Saltarelli and Chairman Roger R. Stanton--will be stepping down at the end of next month.

Incoming Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who is succeeding Saltarelli, said he would like to see the board postpone the critical decision until the two county supervisors elected earlier this month can take their place.

“I feel pretty territorial about this,” said Spitzer, who opposes an airport at El Toro. “I’d like to see them postpone this because I’m going to inherit this issue.”

The other supervisor-elect, Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith, feels differently.

Smith, a strong supporter of the El Toro airport plan, expressed hope that airport opponents will see the benefits of reaching a middle ground on the issue.

“This [airport] is going to happen,” said Smith, who is succeeding Stanton. “I hope there comes a time when people reexamine whether they should keep fighting or join in the planning process.”

“If they don’t want to be part of the process, they are going to be hurt,” Smith said. “I hope they begin to come around.”

“Now is the time to engage in that conversation and intelligently deal with this issue,” added Bruce Nestande, a spokesman for pro-airport forces.

*

County officials stress that a board vote to approve the draft report favoring a commercial airport would merely trigger a new round of environmental and airport feasibility studies, and is not the final decision on the fate of the base.

They have also tried to allay fears by emphasizing that the document tries to meet state environmental guidelines by honestly showing the “worst-case” scenario, and that no one is actually pushing for an airport that could be one of the largest in the nation.

But critics say the county is being disingenuous. It should never have studied an airport serving 38.3 million if it wasn’t a reasonable possibility, opponents said.

Even if the county’s assurances about a worst-case scenario prove true, this still casts doubt on the validity of the county’s study, they said: A smaller airport would produce less revenue, undermining the argument that an airport would bring the county far and away the most economic benefit.

*

Opponents say protracted legal battles over the future of the base are a certainty. Already making its way through the appeals process is a challenge to a lower court’s ruling upholding the validity of Measure A, narrowly passed by voters in November 1994.

Businesswoman Laurie Casey said a newly formed group--the Orange County Business Coalition--is trying to recruit businesses that oppose an El Toro airport and is looking for financial commitments for possible legal challenges.

Airport foes say the fight could even lead to boycotts by South County residents of businesses that support an El Toro airport.

“It’s at least a possibility that has to be discussed,” Hack said.

Others said such an extreme action would ultimately hurt South County residents.

“I don’t think it’s something that we ought to be talking about,” said Irvine Mayor Mike Ward, who noted that businesses generate the sales tax revenue that help cities. “You don’t want to cut your own throat.”

South County residents may feel battered by the losses, but they said they need to keep reminding themselves that the fight over El Toro was never expected to be easy.

“Are we discouraged? No. Do we think this is over? Not by a long shot,” said Laguna Niguel resident and airport opponent Charles Leibold, whose impassioned pleas before all three commissions last week drew audience applause. “All of this is going to be revisited for years and years to come.”

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Shelby Grad.