Aggressive Advocates Fight for the South

SANTA ANA —  Since taking office six months ago, two county supervisors have focused their time and energy repairing relations with South County residents upset by plans to build an international airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and to expand the James A. Musick Branch Jail in Irvine.

The fledging efforts of Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Thomas W. Wilson will be put to the test in the coming months as they bring to the full Board of Supervisors a variety of proposals supported by South County leaders but still in need of a third vote on the five-member board.

Community activists have praised Wilson and Spitzer as aggressive advocates of South County causes, but some believe their work will ultimately be meaningless unless they can win the support of at least one other board member.

“Getting that third vote is really going to be the key,” said Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea, a leading opponent of the El Toro airport. “I’m pleased we have two supervisors defending our rights. But it has to be more than words. There has to be action behind the words.”

Wilson and Spitzer face their first test in the coming weeks when they present their plan to move forward on a long-delayed South County courthouse project.

Soon, the supervisors are expected to propose that the county help pay for a study of nonaviation uses for El Toro being prepared by airport opponents.

They are also working with city officials in Lake Forest and Irvine to find alternative sites for a new jail even though the board voted last year to continue planning for an expansion of Musick, which is near a Lake Forest housing tract.

Musick and El Toro are two of the most divisive issues facing the county, and it remains unclear whether the three North County supervisors--Charles V. Smith, William G. Steiner and Jim Silva--will risk alienating their own constituents who support both projects.

Late last year, the Board of Supervisors approved preliminary plans for the airport and jail despite protests from nearby residents.

Wilson and Spitzer are new to the board, and many community leaders acknowledge that the pair are far more strident in their support of South County causes than previous supervisors.

“They are not just vocal, but they are putting their money where their mouth is and devoting staff time to study these issues,” Lake Forest Councilwoman Helen Wilson said. “I think because we finally have two strong voices on the board, other supervisors are maybe willing to listen a little more.”

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Laguna Niguel Councilman Mark Goodman, however, is more skeptical. “It’s great that we have aggressive representatives instead of fence-sitters,” he said. “But I don’t know if it changes anything. The other side still has the three votes.”

Despite the doubts, Wilson and Spitzer remain upbeat that they can deliver.

“I’m very optimistic,” Wilson said. “I have always found that if you come up with reasonable, logical and deliberative answers, you can convince a third, fourth or fifth person . . . to support it.”

Wilson, a former Laguna Niguel councilman, was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson late last year to represent the 5th District, which runs from Newport Beach south through Irvine and down the coast to San Clemente. The last two supervisors from that district, Thomas F. Riley and Marian Bergeson, lived in Newport Beach, where city officials strongly support an airport at El Toro.

Wilson is the first 5th District supervisor in two decades to live south of the El Toro Y--a distinction hailed by some South County residents who have long complained about a lack of representation.

Spitzer, a former prosecutor, lives at the northern tip of the county in Brea and represents District 3, which covers North County cities like Fullerton and La Habra as well as South County communities like Lake Forest and Mission Viejo.

Despite the divided district, Spitzer has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the El Toro airport and said he doubts his stand will do him political harm among his northern constituents.

“My point is that South County feels passionately about the issue, while North County has represented to me that an airport would be a nice thing to have,” he said. “North County is not going to the mat or putting in the personal resources into this issue. You see that happening only in the South County.”

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Voters in 1994 narrowly approved a ballot measure supporting development of an airport at El Toro. Nonetheless, Spitzer and Wilson believe other uses are still viable, such as an education center, rail hub, commercial and residential development or mix of all three.

As a first step, the supervisors want the county to help fund a study looking at nonaviation uses for the base that is being prepared by the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a coalition of South County cities that oppose an airport.

Wilson said the move would bring opponents into the county’s planning process and could foster more dialogue with airport supporters.

But Supervisor Smith, a strong backer of the El Toro plan, said he would oppose allocating county funds for such a study, noting that the coalition’s members are suing the county in an effort to block the airport plan.

“The county should not be funding a study done by a group that is in direct opposition to what we are doing,” Smith said. “The fact is that voters have said they want El Toro converted into a commercial airport.”

Smith, however, said he was interested in finding the money to build a new South County courthouse, which would replace two existing facilities that are severely overcrowded.

“There is a tremendous need down there, and I support working with Todd and Tom to get something done,” he said.

Some South County critics believe that Wilson and Spitzer should take extreme measures on the airport fight, such as refusing to back agenda items from other board members unless they give concessions on El Toro.

“They should pick up the tempo,” said Bill Kogerman, head of Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, an anti-airport group.

So far, neither supervisor has adopted the radical strategy. But their teamwork is continuing.

“It’s important that Tom and I stick together,” Spitzer said. “There is a camaraderie in being the underdog.”