Irvine May Spend More in Airport War

Irvine’s mayor and its newest councilman want to boost the city’s arsenal against a proposed commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station by spending $2 million to challenge airport plans in court and take other action to block it.

Mayor Christina L. Shea and Councilman Larry Agran will ask the council Tuesday to approve the creation of a special $2-million El Toro Reuse Fund to be used for court action and attempts to annex the base or buy the property outright.

If approved, the money would double the $2 million the city has given to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a group of seven South County cities formed to fight the airport. Irvine is the largest contributor to the authority, accounting for about 30% of its budget with $1-million donations in each of the last two years.

Agran long has criticized Irvine’s airport opposition efforts as too tepid and pushed during his campaign for more city spending to protect the interests of its residents, particularly in filing lawsuits to block an airport.

Shea said Thursday that the money would come from a $17-million surplus.

“The message we’re telling the county is that Irvine means business,” Shea said. “We have about a year and a half to turn back this train that’s going down the track. We’re the last line of defense” against an airport.

The proposed resolution would funnel the money toward the activities of four new committees that would pursue four strategies: an effort to annex the base, initial plans to buy the land, “a comprehensive legal and environmental defense strategy” against an airport, and promoting the Millennium Plan for a complex of homes, businesses, parks and a university.

However, no city money would be spent on a probable initiative being pushed through the authority as a way to overturn the 1994 countywide vote that had designated the 4,700-acre base for an airport after the Marines leave in July.

The Irvine money would dwarf spending by the city of Newport Beach to promote an El Toro airport. Newport Beach will spend about $865,000 through July on its pro-airport efforts.