El Toro Foes Appeal Measure F Decision

A coalition of South County cities fighting plans for a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine base asked a state court in Santa Ana on Monday to review a trial judge’s decision to overturn a voter-approved anti-airport ballot measure.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority asked the 4th District Court of Appeal to rule by September on Measure F, which Los Angeles Superior Court Judge S. James Otero declared unconstitutional last year.

The timing is critical, attorney Richard Jacobs said in his court petition. The pro-airport majority on the Orange County Board of Supervisors hopes to approve the airport plan in September and is pushing for federal approval to follow within 60 days.

“If the county is able to approve an airport master plan and receive title to El Toro without complying with Measure F by submitting those decisions to a vote of the electorate, the initiative may be nullified with respect to [the airport] regardless of this court’s ultimate ruling on this appeal,” Jacobs wrote.

Measure F passed in March 2000 with 67% of the vote. It calls for any airport, hazardous-waste landfill or large jail within a half a mile of homes to be approved by at least two-thirds of voters.

County’s $5-Million P.R. Effort Protested

The anti-airport coalition sent a letter to supervisors Monday protesting a proposal on today’s board agenda to spend $5 million for a public-relations campaign on the new airport through June 30, 2002. Anti-airport forces are preparing another measure for the March 2002 ballot that they hope will kill the airport.

According to state law, Jacobs said, once an appeal is filed in cases such as the challenge to Measure F, it freezes enforcement of the lower-court ruling unless the appellate court says otherwise.

When the board meets today, he said, supervisors will be subject to the spending limits of Measure F, which restrict county spending to completing environmental reviews.

“Until the Court of Appeal reviews the legal issues regarding Measure F and decides its validity, the will of the people is still the law of the county,” Jacobs said.

County attorneys were unavailable for comment Monday on the effect of the appeal on Measure F’s enforcement. But Barbara Lichman, attorney for the Airport Working Group--which supports the county’s El Toro plan--said Jacobs has misinterpreted the law. She said Otero’s ruling will remain in effect through the appeal process.

The higher court will take a fresh look at the validity of the initiative without being bound by anything in Otero’s ruling.

“The county understands that the trial judge’s ruling was only the first step in the legal review,” Jacobs said. “The Board of Supervisors is trying to do everything they can to get beyond the reach of Measure F before the legal process can run its course.”

Last month, supervisors approved spending more than $1 million for five lobbyists and attorneys to push for transfer of the base property to the county, with a hefty bonus if that occurs by year’s end.