LAGUNA WOODS

Residents who are organizing a ballot measure to thwart a commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine base are racing to gather enough signatures before the Aug. 31 deadline. The drive, which organizers said has yielded more than 100,000 signatures, hit a snag in early June when pro-airport forces filed a lawsuit to declare certain petitions invalid. Although confident that the lawsuit won’t prevent the questioned petitions from being accepted, anti-airport activists such as Laguna Woods organizer Phyllis Fish said they want to keep their bases covered.

“We’re not going to take any chances,” said Fish, who said she thought airport supporters would try to delay the trial until after the deadline. Fish, co-chair of Laguna Woods’ petitioners for the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative, said she has started regathering signatures to put a measure on the March ballot. The measure would require a two-thirds majority of Orange County voters to approve any new airports, jails or landfills.