MISSION VIEJO

City leaders will meet in closed session tonight during the regular City Council meeting to discuss whether to intervene in a lawsuit that pro-airport forces have filed against the county to stop the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative. City Manager Dan Joseph said the discussion will mostly be an update on the issues and a review of the city’s options. “We will talk about whether we should get involved as a city or let [a coalition of eight anti-airport cities] handle it,” he said.

The lawsuit is an attempt to declare the initiative unconstitutional before it gets on the ballot, which in turn would stop the county registrar from accepting qualifying petitions. Opponents of a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station want to be defendants in the case because they don’t believe the county--with a pro-airport majority Board of Supervisors--will fight it vigorously. The council meets at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 25909 Pala.