Airport Foes’ Setback Bigger Than Thought

Organizers of a proposed initiative to build a park instead of an airport at El Toro said Wednesday that a judge’s order invalidating petitions collected so far would affect 128,000 signatures, much more than the 50,000 originally believed.

Len Kranser of Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities said organizers did a more thorough count of the petitions after Superior Court Judge James Gray ruled Tuesday that the current signatures were invalid. That count found that organizers were much further along in the process than first believed.

Gray said the measure’s ballot title and summary were misleading and that organizers must start from scratch with new wording. He said county attorneys who prepared the title and summary should have noted that the measure allows development and that the base would not be left entirely as open space.

A pro-airport group, Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, sued over the wording, saying it didn’t adequately describe the impact of the initiative. The measure needs 71,206 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify for the March ballot.

Petition organizers said they’ll appeal Gray’s ruling and vowed to continue collecting signatures on the current petitions.