Costa Mesa gets El Toro ‘wake-up call’

Susan McCormack

COSTA MESA -- In Mayor Gary Monahan’s own words, the city of Costa Mesa

has received its “wake-up call” on the El Toro debate.

At a press conference held Friday morning at City Hall, Monahan said he

was outraged by Assemblywoman Pat Bates’ (R-Laguna Niguel) recent

comments that John Wayne Airport could be expanded to accommodate growing

air transportation demands in the county.

“This will necessitate the need to condemn and bulldoze a large area

around the airport, including substantial properties in Costa Mesa,” he

said. “It is not an option. It is not a possible compromise. It will not

come to fruition.”

The mayor even went so far to reinforce his feelings toward the matter by

awarding Bates a “Bulldozer Award” -- a yellow, Tonka tractor -- “for

proposing that we bulldoze the areas around John Wayne needed to expand

it so that South County won’t have to put up with El Toro.”

Monahan also announced that the first community meeting on El Toro will

be held Nov. 2 at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Center.

Councilwoman Heather Somers also spoke at the meeting, presenting a map

of the areas that would probably be affected if John Wayne were to be

expanded. Somers said development of the airport would “eradicate

everything from the west side of John Wayne to the 55 Freeway,” which is

primarily business offices, and from the 73 Freeway to University Drive,

which contains homes.

Monahan compared the results of expansion of John Wayne to the

construction of an international airport at El Toro, and declared there

is no comparison at all.

“Are they going to lose their businesses?” he asked. “Are they going to

lose their homes?”

Costa Mesa officials were not alone in their condemnation of South County

arguments.

Peggy Ducey, executive director of the Orange County Regional Airport

Authority, agreed with Monahan’s assessment, saying that 10 properties

the size of John Wayne can fit in the buffer zone surrounding El Toro.

Villa Park Mayor Bob Bell and Councilman Robert McGowan, who attended the

event, expressed their concern that a proposal by South County to use

other counties’ airports would significantly affect street and freeway

traffic in Villa Park, Orange, Tustin, Santa Ana and other cities not

usually discussed in the El Toro debate.

“South County residents will spend two to three hours driving to

airports, and they will drive through my city,” Bell said, pointing to

the proximity of the Riverside and Costa Mesa freeways to Villa Park.