IRVINE

The City Council defined the Safe and Healthy Communities initiative, a countywide measure proposed for the March 2000 ballot, at its meeting Tuesday. The initiative requires county voters to approve plans for airports, hazardous waste landfills and large jails by a two-thirds vote. If passed, the initiative could help the city fight plans to build a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which is soon to close. Councilman Larry Agran labeled the initiative as good policy that will block “onerous uses in residential areas.” Agran said the two earlier countywide votes in favor of an airport were based on unapproved and unfinished airport plans, and they amounted to “a classic case of leap-before-you-look public policy.”

According to a Times Orange County analysis, North County voters accounted for approximately 65% of the vote against the March 1996 initiative that tried to block an airport. Voter turnout for the more populous North County in that election was 39.2% of its approximately 800,000 registered voters, while about 45.6% of South County’s 350,000 voters participated, the analysis revealed. Approximately 53,000 South County voters in that election were in favor of the airport.