Project '99 Newsletter, September 1998

A Plan of Action to Protect and Improve Our Community
A Note from Larry Agran Chair of Project 99

Dear Neighbor,

In the struggle over the future of El Toro — already five years old — it’s helpful to occasionally take stock of where we’ve been . . . and where we’re going.

The future of the 4700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Base went up for grabs in 1993 when the federal government ordered the shutdown of El Toro by 1999. Any hope of a fair process for deciding the sensible reuse of the base was shortcircuited in November of 1994. That’s when Measure A — the initiative to convert El Toro to an international airport — passed on a 51% to 49% countywide vote.

Following the voter adoption of Measure A, the battle over the future of El Toro has included a three-phased strategy:

Phase 1: Revealing the Flaws in the Airport Plan. Low-Altitude Overflights... Noise...Automobile Traffic... Air Pollution ...Deficient Runways...Dangerous Takeoff Patterns — these are just some of the serious and irremedial flaws that are making the County’s airport plan increasingly unpopular.

Phase 2: Creating a Choice. Beginning in 1997, Project 99 organized focus groups, surveys and workshops leading to our publication, A Real Choice for a Better Future. This citizen-produced study of practical non-aviation reuses for El Toro was soon followed by publication of the official South County cities’ reuse plan, known as The Millennium Plan. The next year will be devoted to educating the public about this choice.

Phase 3: Making a Choice. Making a choice means voting once again on a countywide initiative, probably in late 1999. But this time the vote will be a choice between the County’s Airport Plan and the Citizens’ Non-Aviation Millennium Plan. (See adjacent story.) To those who say “we’ve already voted,” our reply is simple: In a democracy, the wonderful thing is that we can revisit old questions in light of new information.

And that’s precisely what we intend to do.

Defeating the El Toro International Airport
It's a Matter of Law... and How to Change it

Amid the raging controversy surrounding the future of El Toro, it’s easy to lose track of key facts: On November 8, 1994, in an extremely close election, the voters of Orange County adopted Measure A — a countywide initiative designating nearly 2000 acres of the 4700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Base for reuse as a cargo and passenger inter-national airport.

This was no mere expression of public opinion. Whether they knew it or not, the voters were adopting a binding law. By its terms, Measure A produced a radical change in the County General Plan — the land-use plan and the land-use law governing much of the remaining undeveloped land in Orange County.

But none of this changes the fact that Measure A, adopted by the voters in 1994, is the law in Orange County. Moreover, despite a vigorous court challenge, Measure A was upheld in the courts.

So now what? The answer to a bad law is to replace it with a good law. But generally a voter-approved initiative like Measure A can only be replaced by another vote of the people. And replaced with what? In the case of El Toro, the County General Plan, which now provides for an international airport reuse for nearly half of the base, will have to be changed again. And it will have to be changed by the voters of Orange County.

Somehow, the people of Orange County will have to be given the opportunity to return to the ballot box and vote on a non-aviation reuse plan for El Toro. The non-aviation Millennium Plan developed by ETRPA — the seven-city El Toro Reuse Planning Authority — offers just such an opportunity. Instead of an international airport at El Toro, the Millennium Plan provides for an entirely different set of land uses: colleges and libraries; museums and cultural attractions; homes and apartments and other residential uses; arts and entertainment facilities; a high-tech research and industrial park; and golf courses, parks, wildlife preserves and open space uses.

But no matter how attractive it might be, the Millennium Plan is not a law — at least not yet. It won’t become a law which replaces Measure A unless and until it is submitted to Orange County voters for their consideration. Most likely this will require drafting a specific Millennium Plan initiative petition, and then gathering more than 100,000 signatures to quality the measure for the ballot.

When would the vote take place? Possibly in the year 2000, but more probably in a late-1999 special election. Asked to comment on the prospect of yet another countywide vote on the future of El Toro, Project 99 Communications Director Karen Byers said, “We welcome it. The wrenching, divisive fight over El Toro began with a premature rush to the ballot box in 1994. Now it appears that the fight might end with County voters returning to the ballot box five years later — in 1999.”

Series of Educational Luncheons To Be Held

Issues for consideration regarding the closure of MCAS/El Toro and region-wide economics and quality of life are being addressed in an Educational Series of Luncheons co-sponsored by the South Orange County Chambers of Commerce and the Orange County Business Coalition. Luncheon dates and speakers are as follows:

September 17
Stephen Albright, Executive Director, March Air Force Base,
Joint Powers Authority

October 1
Mary Schiavo, former Inspector General, U. S. Department of Transportation,
author of Flying Blind, Flying Safe

October 13
Alex Garvin, co-author of Urban Parks,
member of the New York City Planning Commission

October 29
A representative of Transrapid International, a firm specializing in maglev
transportation (a high-speed mass transit technology)

Reservations are $20 per person per luncheon and can be made by calling the South Orange County Chambers of Commerce, (949) 830-1100. Checks, Visa and MasterCard are accepted.

Project ’99 is a special project of the Tides Center, a duly registered public charity. Donations to Project ’99/Tides Center are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.