Airport proponents sue Navy
Paul Clinton
NEWPORT BEACH -- Groups still holding out hope for an El Toro airport
sued the Navy on Wednesday, saying an environmental review of park,
business and other uses was done prematurely.
The Airport Working Group, Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, and the
Orange County Regional Airport Authority signed on to the suit to force a
new review.
The environmental review in question, which was released April 23,
analyzed an earlier, non-aviation project designed well before plans for
the “Great Park” approved by voters in March.
“It’s totally flawed,” said Barbara Lichman, the executive director
and lead attorney with the working group. “It’s absolutely invalid.”
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
It’s the second suit by the groups after the March 5 passage of
Measure W. The groups have challenged that initiative, which rezoned the
Marine Corps Air Station from aviation to open space. The suit is now
pending in Los Angeles Superior Court and is expected to be resolved by
the end of the year.
Irvine is seeking to annex the base’s land and develop the former
aviation “buffer zone” surrounding it, both moves that could end hopes
for an airport at the closed base.
Wednesday’s suit could halt those planning efforts and derail the
development of the base into a “Great Park” or some other project
permitted by Measure W.
Measure W also allows a number of open space uses, which include light
industrial, housing and other development.
South County groups said they were surprised by the suit, saying
federal law was more open-ended and permitted a broad definition of the
park project.
“I think it’s a desperation sign,” said Richard Jacobs, the attorney
for a coalition of anti-airport South County cities. “Support for an
airport is down to the old band of hard-core supporters. They’re just
flailing at this point.”
The 43-page suit criticizes the validity of the Navy’s review and
eventual Record of Decision -- the document that maps out how the base
would be used when transferred from federal to local hands -- in a number
of ways.
Navy officials also didn’t examine the “cumulative impact” of the
entire project, including a 12,000-home development recently approved by
Irvine adjacent to the base, the pro-airport groups allege.
Jacobs also said the groups had shot themselves in the foot by suing
the Navy, because they would now be permanently cut out of the planning
process.
But the suit will force the Navy to talk, Lichman said.
“You try to get them to listen to you [outside of the courts],”
Lichman said. “When we’re finished, they’re going to talk to us.”
* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and
politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7
paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.