Appeal of Measure F expected

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- In a long-expected move, authors of the defunct

Measure F say they will appeal today a Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s

ruling invalidating the countywide initiative.

Lawyers for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority are expected to file

the appeal in Orange County Superior Court, a spokeswoman for the

anti-airport group said.

“We just think [the judge] was dead, flat wrong,” said Meg Waters,

planning authority spokeswoman. “We think the ruling was so off base. We

saw what happened in Florida.”

In December, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Otero invalidated

Measure F, which passed in March, because he said it was

unconstitutionally vague and a violation of the state requirement that

measures address only one subject.

The initiative would have required voters to approve any new airports,

jails or landfills by a two-thirds margin.

The planning authority, the loose coalition of South County cities

that drafted the measure, is expected to make its bid to overturn Otero’s

ruling in the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana.

When contacted, Newport Beach Mayor Gary Adams said he was

disappointed by the move.

“I’d like to think it will be upheld,” Adams said of the December

ruling. “The basis for the decision was very sound.”

Even though Otero tossed out Measure F, South County leaders have said

the measure’s March passage -- with 67% approval -- signals the erosion

of support for an El Toro airport.

Recent polls have put support for an airport at the closed base at

about 35% countywide.

The planning authority couldn’t file its appeal until Otero formally

filed his ruling, which is expected to reach court today, Waters said.

In addition to the appeal, the group also intends to draft another

initiative -- expected to reach voters as early as 2002 -- to appeal

1994’s Measure A, which permits an airport to be built at the 4,700-acre

base.

Waters said the appeal of Measure F would halt county lobbying efforts

in Washington, D.C., to secure a transfer of the base from the Department

of Defense into county hands. Measure F banned county lobbying.

On Jan. 4, the county’s Board of Supervisors approved $1.16 million in

contracts for five Washington, D.C., firms to speed up the base transfer.

“The county is out spending money like drunken sailors,” Waters said.