Voters Might Get Another Say on El Toro Issue

Orange County supervisors are considering whether to place an advisory measure on the November ballot to judge whether enough public support exists to continue plans to build a commercial airport at El Toro.

The nonbinding vote is among a handful of options to be presented to supervisors at a special meeting Wednesday by County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier.

Holding an advisory vote would not automatically change the county’s plans for El Toro. However, it would allow supervisors to determine if support for an airport at the closed Marine base has dropped below a majority.

A poll commissioned in February by The Times’ Orange County edition found that indeed may be the case: 52% of voters said they opposed an airport at the closed Marine base, the first time opponents have comprised a majority.

A public vote would also give supervisors a fresh indication of what the public wants at El Toro. The pro-airport board majority, increasingly battered by a growing legion of airport opponents, has relied on a distant 1994 vote to justify its planning.

Pro-airport Supervisor Jim Silva said the time has come to send the issue back to voters. It would be the fourth such vote, joining the 1994 measure, a failed attempt two years later to rescind the airport, and the recent Measure F measure last month that required a two-thirds vote before the airport could be built.

But Silva said the airport will have to stand on its own without a sales job by pro-airport supervisors. Businesses that rely on airport service, and airline passengers who want more travel options and cheaper fares from Orange County, will have to step up, he said.

“Unless the stakeholders, the businesses and the passengers, support the airport in November, it’ll have a tough time passing,” Silva said.

Board Chairman Chuck Smith said he wants to hear all options for the base at Wednesday’s special meeting before making up his mind.

Other options to be presented to supervisors include continuing airport planning or abandoning the airport idea completely.

Still, holding a yes-or-no advisory vote on the airport in November “might be a good thing to do,” Smith said.

“It would be a way to find out what people want.”

The board’s three other supervisors couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Because of Measure F, and regardless of any advisory vote, Orange County voters still would have to take one more binding vote on the airport before it could be built. Besides the two-thirds approval needed, the measure also restricts how the county can spend money to promote its plans, and bars any lobbying or advocacy.

Measure F is being challenged in court by two pro-airport groups and the city of Newport Beach. They have asked a judge to either declare the entire measure unconstitutional or replace the two-thirds approval requirement with a majority vote.

Supervisors briefly considered placing a binding--rather than an advisory--airport vote on November’s ballot, but realized they were running out of time to complete the requirements under Measure F. The measure says no vote can be taken until the county completes environmental studies and approves the project.

County officials froze all environmental work last month and can’t say when the review will be done.

The next opportunity for a binding vote would be June 2002, when three of the five county supervisors--Silva, Tom Wilson and Cynthia P. Coad--face reelection.

Supervisors want the issue resolved before then.