What’s next for El Toro?

Following Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Otero’s

decision overturning Measure F, the different sides in the debate must

decide what their strategy will be. Here’s what some of them said:

A chance to compromise

Newport Beach officials and other supporters of an El Toro Airport say

the victory on Measure F means an opportunity to start working toward an

airport that will be acceptable to the entire county.

“It might make everybody sit down at the table and talk about a

reasonable airport,” Newport Councilwoman Jan Debay said. “It opens the

door to some kind of constructive work together.”

Bruce Nestande, president of Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, argued

that a reasonably sized El Toro could strike a compromise between South

County’s desires and the need to provide air transportation for the whole

county.

“We’ve got to do what we can do to downsize the airport,” he said.

Appeals and more votes

But South County airport opponents don’t see the possibility of a

compromise quite so clearly.

For them, several other options are possible.

First, an immediate appeal of Otero’s decision is likely, said Meg

Waters, spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

“We think the appellate court will take a fresh view of this whole

issue,” she said.

Also probable, she said, is the option of creating another initiative

with language less vulnerable to challenge than that of Measure F.

Another look at Measure A

Finally, in his ruling, Otero urged El Toro opponents to directly

contest Measure A, the 1994 initiative specifying that El Toro should be

used for “a publicly or privately owned and operated airport.”

Nestande said he would welcome such an approach because it would

clarify the debate over El Toro, rather than bringing prisons and

landfills into the argument as Measure F did.

“That’s what we’ve always said,” he said. “If you want to fight the

airport, fight the airport.”