Q. What is Measure F?

A.  Measure F is a ballot measure that the voters initiated and passed into law in March 2000. It gives the people, and not politicians, control over where the county locates certain harmful projects, such as airports, large jails and toxic dumps.

Q.  How was Measure F passed?

Measure F was placed on the ballot by petitions bearing a record 192,000 signature.  Measure F won approval from 67.3 % of Orange County voters, carrying every supervisorial district and 31 out of 33 cities in the county.

Q.  With Measure F now law, do we need another ballot measure to decide the future of El Toro?

Possibly, unless the Board of Supervisors takes positive steps to adopt the will of the people. In 1994, voters narrowly passed Measure A, which amended the county’s General Plan and rezoned the MCAS El Toro property from military use to commercial airport use. Measure F makes it impossible to build an airport at El Toro because of overwhelming public opposition. However, El Toro zoning must be changed - by county action or by a new voter initiative - to permit other uses.  Alternatively, the land can be annexed to the City of Irvine so that county zoning no longer applies. The base is in Irvine’s state-designated “sphere of influence” and part of the land already is within the city limits.

 Q.  What does Measure F do about John Wayne Airport.

It specifically says that any expansion of John Wayne, or the construction of any new airport at Los Alamitos, has to go through the same voter approval being sought for El Toro.   If it becomes harder to build more airport runways in Orange County, that may provide the necessary impetus to the development of high speed ground access to the airports elsewhere in the region.

Q.  What will this measure do for the whole county?

Best question of all.  The new law changes the way that Orange County does its planning of major projects that have potential harm to residents.  With Measure A, the voters were asked to approve an airport without knowing the costs, consequences or alternatives.  With Measure F, the county is required to do the environmental analysis called for under state law before taking the project to the people for approval.  Measure F also forces the county to locate major jails in remote areas away from homes, or to obtain two-thirds voter approval to do otherwise.