Anti-El Toro group files appeal
Paul Clinton
NEWPORT-MESA -- Measure F backers filed an appeal Friday of a judge’s
ruling that the anti-El Toro initiative was invalid, and they vowed to
fight until it is reinstated.
The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, the initiative’s chief
proponent, filed the appeal with the 4th District Court of Appeal in
Santa Ana.
Authority spokeswoman Meg Waters said she was confident the appeal
would succeed.
“If the judge follows the law, we’re in very good shape,” Waters said.
“If they stick to the law and stick to the facts, we have nothing to
worry about.”
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Otero tossed the measure out
last month, following lawsuits by Newport Beach and the Airport Working
Group challenging its constitutionality. The initiative, which passed in
March with 67% voter approval, would have required a countywide vote by a
two-thirds margin for any new airport, jail or landfill.
Those in the Airport Working Group weren’t surprised by the move, the
latest in the South County-North County duel over the county’s plan to
install a commercial airport at the shuttered El Toro Marine base, which
was tapped for closure in 1993 by the Department of Defense.
“They’ve appealed everything and lost everything since 1994,” group
spokesman David Ellis said. “We expected it.”
The planning authority was required to file its appeal in Orange
County. Otero was brought in by the county to hear the initial challenge
of Measure F, granting a Newport Beach request.
Measure F author Richard Jacobs disagreed with Otero’s ruling that the
initiative was unconstitutionally vague and too broad.
Otero ruled that state law requires initiatives to focus on one
subject, not the trifecta of airports, jails and landfills.
“I just think he got it completely wrong,” Jacobs said. The initiative
was “protecting Orange County communities from the deleterious effects of
major public works projects.”
Anti-airport officials have said they plan to put another initiative
on the ballot -- 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.
QUESTION
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