Anti-El Toro group preparing another initiative

Stefanie Frith

Anti-El Toro airport officials will unveil an initiative tonight in

Irvine that they hope to place on the March 2002 ballot to overturn

Measure A and replace it with a plan to build a park at the former Marine

Corps Air Station.

If approved, the latest initiative will provide a mechanism for

planning the “Great Park,” complete with a central park, cultural and

educational institutions, and recreational facilities at the 4,700-acre

site. The initiative will be the focus of a joint public meeting between

the Irvine City Council and the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority at 7

p.m. at Irvine City Hall.

In 1994, Orange County voters approved Measure A, which calls for an

airport to be built at the retired military airfield. Irvine and other

anti-El Toro cities in South County last tried overturning the initiative

in March 2000 with Measure F, which voters approved, but a Los Angeles

Superior Court judge later invalidated.

On Sunday, Irvine mayor Larry Agran said the meeting will be a festive

event and, in time, everyone will be celebrating this new milestone for

the retired Marine base.

“I expect that the council and [the planning authority] will each

approve the initiative. It is overwhelmingly popular,” Agran said. “It’s

pretty straightforward and I can’t imagine that it will be overturned

[once it reaches the courts].”

Even if anti-El Toro officials give the go-ahead for their new

initiative tonight, they still have a long way to go. About 120,000

signatures must be collected from the community to get the new measure on

the ballot in March, and spokeswoman Meg Waters said fund-raisers will

need to take place. The actual wording the groups hope to appear on the

ballot will be read tonight.

“I think this is going to be really exciting and fun,” Waters said.

“There will finally be two alternatives and not just one. People will

have a choice of what they want. It’s finally a fair fight. We just have

to see where the chips fall.”

Costa Mesa mayor Libby Cowan will not be attending tonight’s meeting

because of a prior engagement, but did say she doesn’t think overturning

Measure A is the best plan.

“It’s not in the best interest of Costa Mesa,” she said. “It’s just

one more ballot measure. But it’s all for the courts to decide.”

Dave Ellis of the Airport Working Group said he still thinks the

county’s plan for an airport at the Marine base is the best idea.

“It’s just a pipe dream of theirs to build a park,” said the pro-El

Toro group’s spokesman. “They can’t really afford it. But I hope their

[initiative] goes through. They’ve spent ... years and ... millions on

it. But the economic generation of an airport is still better for the

county than parks which can end up costing taxpayers billions here in

Orange County.”

Waters said what Orange County needs though, is a “Great Park.”

“This is a very highly educated county,” she said. “This is something

that will really make an impression. And I think when our great grand

kids are walking through the park, they are going to thank us that it’s

not an airport.”

QUESTION: Will the Great Park serve as a viable alternative to an

airport at the former Marine base?