Measure F Spending Limits Affirmed

An anti-El Toro airport initiative survived a second legal challenge Monday when a judge refused to allow the county to dodge voter-approved spending limits on plans to build an El Toro airport.

Attorneys for Orange County asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge S. James Otero to temporarily freeze spending curbs mandated by Measure F. Otero called that request “overbroad,” but said he would entertain it if the county could provide specific examples of how Measure F would illegally hamstring airport planning.

“If the county requests a remedy in a narrow fashion, the court would be in a position to be able to maintain the status quo,” Otero ruled.

The decision marked the second time that the measure has been unsuccessfully challenged by airport proponents. A different Los Angeles judge questioned aspects of Measure F, but allowed it to stay on the March 7 ballot. It passed with 67% of the vote.

Measure F restricts the county’s ability to build new airport projects, large jails near homes and hazardous waste landfills without obtaining two-thirds voter approval. The measure also restricts spending not directly related to completing a state-mandated environmental review of the El Toro project. The initiative takes effect Friday.

Supervisors have scheduled a public hearing today on a resolution authorizing additional expenditures for El Toro through June 30, when most of the current consulting contracts expire.

In court, Assistant County Counsel Thomas C. Agin had argued that Measure F’s limits would force the county to default on specific planning contracts and tasks. After the ruling, Agin said he will be back before Otero later this week with a list of contracts that would be interrupted by the curbs.

Airport foes seized on Monday’s ruling as a victory, saying the county can’t continue unchecked spending for the airport.

“The judge obviously got our point that we don’t want the county to be able to spend millions of dollars on new contracts,” said attorney Robin Johansen, representing Jeffrey Metzger, the Laguna Hills attorney who is past chairman of the citizens group that qualified the measure for the ballot.

Activist Tristan Krogius said, “Measure F is on track, and we’re going to accomplish what we wanted, which is to keep unnecessary spending and waste of public funds from chasing this lousy airport plan.”

Pro-airport forces said they were encouraged that the judge gave county attorneys a way to continue some airport spending. That indicates the judge is sympathetic to a related lawsuit filed by airport supporters seeking to have the measure declared invalid, they said.

“If not, he wouldn’t have given [the county] a road map,” said Barbara Lichman, representing Airport Working Group of Newport Beach, one of the groups seeking to have Measure F overturned.

County voters have been split for years over whether the retired, 4,700-acre base should be developed as an airport. Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposes the airport, said voters were clear this time around: They are not interested in spending funds on lobbying and advocacy.

“[Pro-airport officials] can’t convince Orange County of the merits of the planning process, so they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington to court a group of people who care nothing about the impact of an international airport at El Toro or the quality of life in Orange County,” Spitzer said.