One El Toro lawsuit settled

June Casagrande

In the wake of the settlement of an El Toro lawsuit, one major player

in the longtime airport battle is expanding its focus as another is

gladly approaching extinction.

After settling litigation over Measure W on Thursday and as the

end nears on two other pending lawsuits, Airport Working Group

President Tom Naughton said that the group will continue to pursue

its long-term goal of seeking solutions to growing airport demand in

the region.

“If El Toro’s out of the picture, what other airport are we going

to lean on and what are we going to do about growing demand?”

Naughton said. “We can see there will be more and more pressure on

the remaining John Wayne Airport and Long Beach. We’d like to see

some positive answers and someone moving in that direction and we

don’t see that right now.”

At the same time, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which was

created to oppose a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine

Air Base, is close to closing up shop.

“This week’s settlement is probably one of the last nails in the

coffin of an El Toro Airport,” said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for the

group. “We’re hoping that once this is wrapped up we’ll pretty much

be done. Hopefully, we’re going to be selling some old furniture

pretty soon.”

On Thursday, one of the last lingering battles over an El Toro

Airport was resolved when the planning authority, the Airport Working

Group, the city of Irvine, the Orange County Regional Airport

Authority and other parties arrived at a settlement to close the door

on several outstanding lawsuits. All three lawsuits in the global

agreement had been decided by courts, but Airport Working Group and

other parties still had the right to appeal the court rulings.

Thursday’s settlement means they forfeit the right to appeal. In

return, Airport Working Group received a $100,000 settlement from

Waters’ group.

Two other El Toro-related lawsuits by the Airport Working Group

are still pending but could be resolved as soon as next week. The

group has separate suits against the city of Irvine and the Local

Agency Formation Commission, both over the annexation of the closed

Marine air base to Irvine. Airport Working Group leaders charge that

environmental studies on El Toro failed to consider the effects of

crushing up to 900 acres of former runway concrete.

“Ideally we would like to seem them forced to produce a

supplemental [environmental impact report],” Naughton said.

The suit against the Local Agency Formation Commission is also

based on the environmental study. The working group alleges that the

commission’s decision to annex El Toro is faulty because it is based

on incomplete environmental studies.