Briefly in the news

Paul Clinton

The New Millennium Group will conduct a community meeting today in

Newport Beach to discuss the initiative for the closed El Toro Marine

Corps Air Station.

The group is collecting signatures for a ballot measure that would

change the zoning at the base to give Orange County the power to install

an alternative runway layout at the base.

The group hopes to get the measure, known as the Orange County

Reasonable Airport Initiative, on the ballot in March. To do that, 71,206

valid signatures must be collected by Sept. 18.

Under the group’s proposal, known colloquially as the V-plan, the

base’s east-west runway would be taken out and replaced with a runway at

the northern end of the airfield. The two runways would appear to have a

“V” shape from the sky.

The meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. at the North Bluffs clubhouse, 2490

Vista del Oro.