In Reversal, Tustin Backs Anti-Airport Measure F

After a two-hour hearing, the Tustin City Council voted Monday night to support Measure F, the anti-El Toro airport initiative.

The split vote represented a change in sentiment among the council.

Tustin has been neutral on whether the county should build a major commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine Air Corps Station, but voted seven months ago to join the pro-airport Orange County Regional Airport Authority. Tustin has been a prime battleground over the airport because its southern residents are affected by planes flying into John Wayne Airport and its northern residents would be hit with noise from departing jets at El Toro.

Mayor Tracy Wills Worley was the deciding vote in the 3-2 action. She said that in many ways, taking a position on the airport was a no-win situation and that Measure F was a “bad plan.” Still, she said she would support it because she didn’t want the city to be sandwiched between two airports.

But Councilman Thomas Saltarelli voted against the measure, saying Tustin voters have spoken twice narrowly in favor of the El Toro airport, primarily out of fear that John Wayne Airport would be expanded if El Toro is not built.

“You can bet everything is going to be pushed by the county to do what they have to do at John Wayne” if El Toro isn’t built, he said.

In an uncharacteristically packed council chamber with overflow seating, residents debated the issue calmly during the public hearing. Their comments were fairly evenly split between favoring the measure and opposing it.

Measure F, called by its supporters the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative, would require approval by two-thirds of voters countywide in order to build airports, large jails near homes or hazardous-waste landfills.

Last week, the Orange City Council became the first city to oppose Measure F over fears that it would make the undeveloped East Orange area a likely candidate for a future maximum-security jail.