Council hears views on Great Park measure

As the March 5 election nears, a trio of activists took to the

Huntington Beach City Council podium to urge residents here to turn back

the so-called “Great Park” initiative that would force county officials

to abandon plans to convert the closed El Toro Marine base into an

airport.

But far from getting a sympathetic ear, the pro-airport activists were

countered by Mayor Debbie Cook, herself a proponent of Measure W, the

Orange County Central Park and Nature Preserve Initiative.

“El Toro is not the answer to the transportation problems in Orange

County,” Cook said. “Orange County is far behind Northern California in

setting aside open space. This is a regional issue that we have to look

at into the future and revert back to why we came to Orange County in the

first place.”

Measure W is a proposal to turn the 4,738-acre former El Toro Marine

Corps Air Station into a site featuring a museum, park and other

recreational amenities.

Three county residents, one from Huntington Beach, voiced their

opposition to the park initiative saying it would increase taxes.

Independent contractor Rex Ricks from Huntington Beach was one of

those residents.

He lives below the flight path of Long Beach Airport and said more

South County residents will be traveling to airports like John Wayne and

Long Beach if the park initiative passes.

“The park will just create loopholes for more development,” Ricks

said. “Irvine is not taking care of its transportation needs and some of

that could spill over into Huntington Beach.”

A central park at the base would cost $2.1 billion to develop and as

much as $60 million a year to operate according to a study completed in

September by BBC Research and Consulting, a firm based in Denver, and

hired by the El Toro Educational Alliance, a pro-airport group.

The potential tax increase with the Great Park is what concerns Dave

Ellis and other members of the El Toro Educational Alliance that believes

an airport at El Toro is the best reuse of the base.

“Our belief is this will be the largest tax increase ever to the

residents of Orange County,” Ellis said. “They put out $8 million worth

of promotional materials about building an observatory, and a

hundred-acre lake and they didn’t tell anyone how they were going to pay

for it.”

Supporters of the park argue that the Newport Beach Airport Working

Group, part of the Educational Alliance, is presenting inaccurate

information to curtail the use of John Wayne Airport.

“Under Proposition 13 and Proposition 218 there can be no tax increase

unless two-thirds of the county vote in favor of it,” said Leonard

Kranser, a member of Yes on W and the community director for Safe and

Healthy Communities. “These are scare tactics used against Measure W.”

Potential sources of revenue to build the park include an RV storage

lot, another golf course in addition to the existing course, renting out

facilities left behind by Marines, acquisition of state park funds and

admission to a museum on the site, Kranser said.