Runway or Walkway? Measure W to Decide
With the planning of El Toro airport complete, opponents have qualified yet another anti-airport initiative--their third in five years--for the March ballot. The only thing Measure W will do is eliminate the option for El Toro airport. Measure W will not build a “Great Park.” According to County Auditor David E. Sundstrom, “the specific developments identified in the city of Irvine ‘Great Park’ proposal are not part of the initiative and would not necessarily occur as a result of its passage.”
In the last decade, California failed to build a single power plant. As a result of this failure our electric bills have doubled. The utility crisis underscores the importance of developing important infrastructure such as airports that are needed to support a growing population and economy. With the shortest commercial jet runway in the United States on just 500 acres, John Wayne Airport is inadequate to move the goods and services of the 32nd largest economy in the world.
Orange County’s explosive growth during the last two decades has driven the need for El Toro airport. Once a series of cattle ranches and sleepy surf towns, South County now has 663,000 high-income residents and almost 60 million square feet of office, manufacturing, retail and research buildings. And South County is still growing.
Orange County must become a responsible citizen in our regional economy. We can’t continue to clog the freeways with our passengers and cargo and expect Los Angeles or Ontario to solve our problem. Riverside’s residents have told Orange County, by City Council resolution, that they don’t want our air passengers. Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn has told the region that every county needs to do its fair share because LAX can’t grow much more.
The plan for El Toro airport is responsive to “quality of life” concerns. To minimize impacts on surrounding residents, the Board of Supervisors has capped El Toro’s growth at slightly more than twice the passenger level of John Wayne. Surrounded by a noise buffer zone the size of Fullerton, El Toro will be one of the airports most sensitive to residents in America. Only the new Denver airport has more open space around it than El Toro.
Aircraft will follow specific FAA-approved flight paths where the closest residence is miles from the airfield. El Toro airport means no more two-hour drives to LAX. The idea that Orange County residents will use Palmdale Regional Airport (103 miles from Orange County) or George Air Force Base in Victorville (88 miles from Santa Ana) is folly. While all the outlying airports are important, they are not the solution for Orange County.
California has not built a new airport since World War II. As airport demand rises, Orange County is poised to solve its air transportation problems with the development of El Toro. In area, El Toro is almost 10 times the size of John Wayne Airport and can handle our airport needs safely for the next hundred years.
Orange County’s taxpayers will get El Toro virtually at no cost from the federal government if we redevelop it as an airport. The Orange County Taxpayers Assn. has found that taxpayers will not pay for the airport. Passengers will.
El Toro’s development will be financed like every other airport in the United States--by the users of the facility that generate funds for FAA grants and debt service on revenue bonds. If you don’t use the airport, you don’t pay for it.
In contrast, how will a Great Park be financed? Like every major park in California--by your property taxes. The Irvine City Council in 2000 rejected the Great Park’s financing plan; one member called it “overly optimistic” and another, “misleading junk.”
South County already has 103,000 acres of parks and open space--one acre for every six residents. Conversely, North County has only 8,000 acres of parks--one acre for every 246 residents. El Toro airport is a balance between quality of life for residents and the need for economic growth.
Most important is El Toro’s role in our national security. We learned from Sept. 11 that the world is an unstable place. Preserving El Toro’s runways for use by the military will be vital to our nation’s defense. Tearing them up for a park would be wrong.
Finally, quality of life begins with a job. El Toro airport will be a job generator. As former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said in his farewell address to New Yorkers, “New York must rebuild and continue to grow--cities that don’t grow will die.” El Toro airport allows Orange County to continue growing and thriving by generating an estimated 65,000 new jobs, according to the Orange County Business Council.
Let’s stop the bickering and join to ensure that our quality of life is preserved and our economy is strong. El Toro airport is for our future.
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Stan Oftelie is president of the Orange County Business Council. Reed Royalty is president of the Orange County Taxpayers Assn.
