El Toro Airport

In articles on the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, you extolled the financial benefits for the county of a new airport. You use examples of Dallas and Denver to illustrate how economies have prospered after the building of new airports.

Please notice where these airports were built. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is on the outskirts of both Dallas and Fort Worth and impacts mainly buildings that have been constructed since the airport was built. Denver’s airport was built outside the city limits, and most of the homes impacted have also been built since the airport was constructed.

The areas of southern Orange County that will be affected by the proposed airport are quite densely populated. Some of the most beautiful and expensive areas in the county are in the proposed flight paths of this airport. Are the people of southern Orange County less important than the people of the rest of the county? I haven’t heard of a proposed airport in Anaheim. Why not make the Seal Beach naval weapons depot an airport?

If the region actually needs another international airport, which is questionable, why not put it in an area where the least number of people will be impacted? Why not at Camp Pendleton, where San Diego residents also could use the airport? Or March Air Force Base, or further east in the desert?

This airport will ruin the lives and property values of tens of thousands of South County residents. I certainly hope the projected revenue from this waste of 4,700 acres of useful land will make up for the lost tax revenue caused by the depreciation in value of some of the best land in Orange County.

CATHERINE LONCAR

Coto de Caza