With So Much Up in the Air, Supervisors Hold Off on El Toro

Planning for a new airport at El Toro remained uncertain Tuesday as Orange County supervisors declined to move the project forward until a Los Angeles County judge rules on the validity of an anti-airport measure approved by local voters.

The board’s decision continues indefinitely the freeze on El Toro planning that County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier ordered last week. Three of the five supervisors said Tuesday that they want a court ruling before reversing that action, citing a threat by airport foes that they could be held personally liable for funds improperly spent on the project.

The board’s decision raises doubts about the county’s ability to meet its own deadlines, including a timetable for responding to public concerns about the county’s environmental impact report on an El Toro airport. The board was also scheduled to take a final vote on the proposed airport in June--a target date now seriously in doubt.

It’s unclear when the stalemate will be resolved. Judge S. James Otero, who is presiding over the case, has yet to schedule a court hearing to decide the validity of Measure F. The initiative that passed March 7 requires a two-thirds vote before the county can build a new airport, large jails near homes or hazardous waste landfills.

Last month, county attorneys asked the judge to grant an emergency order allowing the county to move forward pending the court hearing, but Otero declined.

Measure F was crafted by airport opponents. County attorneys plan to sit down Thursday with representatives of eight South County cities opposed to the airport in an attempt to craft an agreement on what El Toro planning activities can continue under Measure F.

Airport foes said they were pleased with the board’s action Tuesday. Putting the brakes on the airport project is exactly what the voters wanted when they passed Measure F by a 2 to 1 ratio, said Susan Withrow, chairman of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which opposes an El Toro airport.

“The fact that everything’s on hold isn’t necessarily bad,” Withrow said.

Tuesday’s action was only one in a series of recent setbacks to plans to convert the retired El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport.

With so much uncertainty, pro-airport Supervisors Cynthia Coad and Jim Silva said Tuesday that they will not approve any El Toro spending until there is a judge’s decision.

At Supervisor Todd Spitzer’s request, board members directed county attorneys to ask a handful of El Toro contractors if they would be willing to put their contracts on hold until there is a court ruling. If not, the board may vote next week to pay four contractors $182,000 from general county revenues to close out their contracts, which have 90-day termination clauses.

The contractors also could be diverted to work on the many other El Toro reuse projects that are unrelated to an airport, Spitzer said.

Attorneys for the pro-airport forces that filed the Measure F challenge were unavailable Tuesday for comment.