Airport Foes Take 3rd Run at Petitions

For the third time, supporters of a plan for a large urban park at the closed El Toro Marine base will start from scratch collecting voter signatures to put an initiative on the March ballot.

As many as 30,000 signatures collected on petitions at shopping centers and public events in the last three weeks will be scrapped because a crucial map was missing from documents sent to county officials, park proponents said Thursday.

“Basically, the choice was either spend the time fighting the thing with an indeterminate amount of time involved and an uncertain outcome, or just do it again,” anti-airport group spokesman Len Kranser said. “It’s not fun.”

The petitions were challenged last week by airport supporters for failing to include a map of the zoning proposed for the 4,700-acre base. State law requires all relevant documents to be included when initiatives are submitted to county officials, said Frederick C. Woocher, an attorney for the pro-airport Citizens for Jobs and the Economy.

Volunteers with Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities already had to regroup earlier because of paperwork problems.

The first set of documents, submitted to Orange County registrar’s officials in May, contained typographical and other errors. For example, titles were not in bold type, as required, and dots designating new paragraphs were printed as Japanese yen symbols.

When a second set of paperwork was submitted, the map was not included, registrar’s officials said.

Kranser and anti-airport activist Bill Kogerman insisted that the map was sent but was misplaced when registrar’s officials forwarded the paperwork to county attorneys for review.

County attorneys have 15 days to review the third set of documents and draft a new title and summary, Registrar Rosalyn Lever said. The initiative also must be published again before signatures can be collected.

“We’re starting the whole process over,” Lever said.

Organizers must collect 71,206 valid signatures. The initiative would replace airport zoning, approved by voters in 1994, with a designation for parkland and a nature preserve. A specific plan for the base, called the Great Park, was developed by Irvine and is supported by a coalition of South County cities.

Airport backer Bruce Nestande, who filed the complaint against the initiative last week, said airport foes must be held accountable for following the law.

Kranser said the group decided to start over so the final submission cannot be challenged later.

“As somebody said, it’s not as bad as living next to an airport,” he said.

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For a complete package of stories about the airport controversy and an online discussion, go to: https://www.latimes.com/eltoro/.