Truth Crash-Lands in El Toro Airport Fliers : Misleading Statements Could Further Confuse Residents on an Already Complicated Issue

As the battle rages for the minds of Orange County residents over the fate of a proposed commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, one casualty has been the truth.

In recent months, airport foes and supporters alike have engaged in a propaganda campaign that often exaggerates and distorts the facts about the airport, critics on both sides say.

One pro-El Toro airport mailer depicts a Central County family, including the dog, wearing earmuffs while barbecuing. The message: If El Toro is not built, hundreds of noisy jets will be flying out of John Wayne Airport over their homes.

An anti-airport mailer states that the El Toro proposal could nearly empty the county’s coffers, leaving taxpayers with a $1-billion bill.

Even some partisans in the airport issue are dismayed about the reliability of information being circulated.

“We need to stop this ridiculous hysteria about making comments that are just designed to incense people on both sides of the issue,” said Richard Dixon, chairman of the anti-airport El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. “Pretty soon the public is going to tell all of us to go away.”

The information war shows no sign of letting up, particularly in the next few months, when an alternative non-aviation plan for El Toro and the county’s four preliminary commercial airport options are scheduled for release.

At least half a dozen mailers from both sides have been sent out over the past two months.

While the mailers, which cost thousands of dollars to produce, contain kernels of truth, they also offer confusing and misleading information that could baffle county residents on an already complicated and controversial project.

“Everyone who reads or listens to anything about the El Toro project needs to do it with a critical eye,” said Courtney Wiercioch, who leads the county’s airport planning effort.

The Marines are scheduled to leave the surplus 4,700-acre base in July 1999. A 1994 advisory ballot measure calling for a commercial airport at El Toro passed by a slim margin.

Based in part on the vote, the Board of Supervisors in December 1996 approved a plan for the airport, but the acrimony surrounding the project has not died down.

Many South County residents oppose an airport, fearing it will lower their property values by increasing noise, air pollution and traffic. Airport supporters maintain that the commercial facility would be an enormous economic boon to the region.

The latest mailer was sent to 30,000 households in Orange, Tustin and Villa Park and cost $2,500. It was prepared by the Airport Working Group, an organization made up of Newport Beach residents and of individuals who support the El Toro airport plan.

The cover depicts the family having a picnic while half a dozen jets roar overhead and states that South County politicians have a plan to increase the number of planes flying out of John Wayne Airport.

“Their plan puts 220 flights per day over your home,” reads the color headline.

But the leader of the Airport Working Group--Tom Naughton--acknowledged that he does not know of any plan by South County politicians to increase use of John Wayne. Rather, he maintains that South County’s opposition to El Toro is a de facto plan that would result in more flights at John Wayne and that some South County politicians have proposed expanding John Wayne Airport.

“There isn’t any per se plan,” Naughton said. “But when you talk about the solution to a given problem in Orange County, that is a plan. You don’t have to have it written.”

Key South County leaders like Dixon, Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea and Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates dispute the contention that there’s a plan to increase flights over North County.

“We have never even discussed it,” Shea said. “I am proposing that we sit down with Newport Beach and find an alternative that will not affect Newport Beach and will not affect Irvine.”

Another recent pro-airport flier, paid by the group Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, states in bold letters that the Federal Aviation Administration supports a commercial airport at El Toro.

Bruce Nestande, president of the Citizen’s for Jobs and Economy, which spent $100,000 to send out 500,000 flyers throughout the county, said his group took that information from a 1995 FAA letter.

Although that letter does indeed express support for an El Toro airport, in more recent letters and statements, agency officials say they will not take a position on El Toro until the county finishes its airport development plan in mid-1999.

The mailer further states that Orange County loses $4.9 billion annually by having the vast majority of its cargo shipped from other airports. But that figure has been questioned by many, including county officials, who are no longer using it.

Nobody has an exact figure on the amount of revenue Orange County loses by having cargo shipped out of other airports, Wiercioch said.

On the anti-airport side, one frequent target of criticism is a newsletter by Project 99, a group of South County residents. The three-page letter, sent to 500 to 700 members, shows a detail map of El Toro with airplanes taking off toward the west.

Larry Agran, publisher of the newsletter and founder of the organization, defends the map, saying that the information comes from the county’s own reuse plan as well as from pilots.

Even though the county’s reuse plan does state that there would be a small number of airplanes taking off to the west, when county supervisors approved the airport plan in December 1996, they also passed a resolution restricting westerly takeoffs as part of an effort to keep airplanes from flying over Irvine. County officials maintain that the only way airplanes would take off to the west is if supervisors overruled their own resolution.

Critics also say that Agran lists many possible non-aviation uses for the military base, including a potential park and a high-tech center. But, they argue, he does not mention that the county’s plans also call for building a park and a possible college in conjunction with a commercial airport.

Agran maintains the county is pulling a fast one on people.

“The county’s plan presumes that we’re all idiots. Would you build a college at the end of the busy runway?” said Agran, noting that the non-aviation plan would include ripping out the runways. “Airports are nasty neighbors. It’s absurd.”

Another anti-airport mailer put out by Jim Lacy, who is a candidate for state Assembly, states that to develop an airport, county supervisors will have to issue “public revenue bonds that may never be repaid by the private airport developers--causing a deficit that could have to be made up by the taxpayers with the county’s general obligation funds.”

Lacy maintains there could be a risk to taxpayers if the airport does not generate enough revenue to pay off the bonds. His mailer, costing $4,500, was sent to 800 households in the Assembly district, which encompasses parts of South County and North San Diego County.

But an airport at El Toro would be paid for with funds from several sources, including John Wayne Airport, FAA grants, passenger facility charges and airport revenue-backed bonds, Wiercioch said.

County officials say that if there were a payment default, it is the bondholders, not taxpayers, who would foot the bill. If necessary, money can be raised from extra passenger charges and airport-related fees.

It has not been decided if the airport will be built by a private developer or run by the county.

In the El Toro debate, residents should beware.

“The public doesn’t have any idea whom to believe any more because of the tremendous amount of misinformation that has been flying around the county,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer, an airport foe. “I just think people are terribly confused on all sides.”

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Misinforming Mailers

Some information in mailers distributed by groups with an interest in the post-military use of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is not accurate. A comparison of some wrong information, compared with the facts:

Airport Working Group:

* “South County politicians have a plan to double the size of John Wayne Airport. Their plan puts 220 flights per day over your home.”

* Airplanes at John Wayne Airport will take off to the north over Tustin, Orange and Villa Park.

Facts:

* Only the Orange County Board of Supervisors can decide if John Wayne Airport will expand after a mandatory flight cap expires in 2005. It has not been decided if John Wayne will expand or by how much.

* Takeoffs at John Wayne are to the south except during Santa Ana wind conditions, when takeoffs are to the north.

Economy:

* “FAA backs El Toro”

* $4.9 billion in airport fees and related revenue could be generated by cargo operations at El Toro Airport

* “Orange County Report” is the name of the mailer

* According to David Hinson, former head of the FAA, El Toro is a $10-billion gift. Hinson states this in the newsletter, referring to the amount of money it would probably cost to build an airport from scratch in Orange County.

Facts:

* The Federal Aviation Administration does not have a position on the airport. It will either approve or disapprove an airport after reviewing the county’s master plan, which is scheduled for release in mid-1999.

* Potential revenue that would be generated by cargo flights out of El Toro is unknown. County CEO Jan Mittermeier has attributed the figure of $4.9 billion to Chapman University President James L. Doti. But Doti says he has never done a study on the economic benefits of cargo flights at El Toro.

* Orange County Report is the copyrighted name of a monthly real estate and business newsletter published in Newport Beach. The 15-year-old newsletter is opposed to an airport at El Toro.

* It is too soon to say how much El Toro is worth. The county has estimated the cost of developing an airport and surrounding land at $1.6 billion.

Jim Lacy for Assembly:

* The Board of Supervisors will have to issue public revenue bonds for development of the airport.

* An airport would be built by private developers who may not pay back the bonds.

Facts:

* If an airport is built at El Toro, revenue bonds will be issued. Airport revenue bonds are paid back through revenues generated by the airport, and any risk is assumed by bondholders--not taxpayers. Public revenue bonds are backed by property tax or general-fund revenues.

* County officials have not determined if the airport would be privately owned.

Project 99:

* Airplanes at El Toro will be taking off to the west.

Fact:

* When county supervisors approved the base reuse plan in December 1996, they also passed a resolution banning takeoffs to the west as part of a mitigation effort.

Sources: Individual organizations; Researched by LORENZA MUNOZ / Los Angeles Times