Court Ruling Helps ‘Great Park’ Cause

A San Diego court of appeal on Friday breathed new life into the effort to build an urban park at the El Toro Marine base, staying a lower court ruling that effectively killed the efforts to place the issue on the March ballot.

The preliminary ruling means that the 128,000 signatures gathered to place the “Great Park” plan on the ballot can be submitted to the county registrar for certification.

But the appellate court has yet to decide whether those signatures are valid, so the fate of the park petition likely won’t be known until September.

The action comes two weeks after Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray ruled that the ballot title and summary on the petitions were misleading and therefore the signatures should be thrown out.

The decision Friday by the 4th District Court of Appeal won applause in South County, where officials see the park as a way of sidetracking efforts by the Board of Supervisors to build a commercial airport at the closed military base.

“Thank God for the appellate court,” said Susan Withrow, mayor pro tem of Mission Viejo, who is on the board of the coalition of nine anti-airport cities in South County.

Withrow and others said they will immediately submit the signatures to the county as they wait for the appellate court to decide. The measure needs 71,206 valid signatures to be placed on the March ballot.

The initiative would require the county to scrap the airport plan and instead create a massive park and nature preserve at the 4,700-acre base. The so-called Great Park would include universities, museums and commercial development.

Airport supporters said they remain optimistic that the appellate courts will rule in their favor. “The court clearly wants to hear the case,” said Fredric Woocher, a pro-airport attorney.

But Richard Jacobs, an anti-airport attorney, called the court’s action “nearly a slam-dunk. . . . This order would not have been written if the [judges] weren’t sure that the title and summary are valid.”

The initiative was challenged by Bruce Nestande, former supervisor and now a pro-airport activist.

Nestande said County Counsel Laurence M. Watson failed to disclose that the proposed park initiative would allow extensive development on the former base. The title prepared by Watson’s office says the measure would designate the base for open-space uses.

Gray ruled that the ballot title and summary were faulty and misleading. As a result, the signatures were invalidated.

The county plans an international airport at El Toro that by 2020 could accommodate 28 million passengers yearly. A majority of supervisors support the plan. Most South County residents oppose it.