Briefly in the news

-- Paul Clinton

A three-judge appellate panel is scheduled to hear South County’s

Measure F appeal Dec. 14.

The San Diego Court of Appeal set the hearing Monday afternoon.

In addition to scheduling the hearing date, the court also denied a

South County motion to halt the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ Oct.

23 approval of an airport for the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air

Station.

Measure F, approved by 67% of county voters in March 2000, would have

required a two-thirds public vote of any new airport, landfill or jail in

the county. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Otero threw out the

measure in December, saying it was unconstitutional.

Shortly after that ruling, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a

coalition of South County cities fighting the airport, appealed.

The hearing on the appeal, almost exactly one year after Otero’s

ruling, is set for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 14. The three-judge panel will hear

oral arguments.