Judge Rules El Toro Report Flawed, Gives County 2nd Chance

In a ruling that seems to please both sides, a Superior Court judge Wednesday accepted Orange County’s proposal to fix its environmental impact report without halting plans to turn El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell ordered the county to address the problems she found in the county’s massive environmental report and recirculate it for public comment.

In addition, the county must pay the legal fees incurred by Taxpayers for Responsible Planning and the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, the two groups that filed the suit challenging the adequacy of the environmental report. The amount of fees hasn’t been determined.

County officials were pleased that the judge didn’t force them to start the airport planning process over, as opponents had hoped.

“I’m thrilled,” said Mike Gatzke, attorney for the county. “We need to fix those specific limited portions that she found a problem with. We had agreed that anything we do that is new we would let the public read it and comment on it. This was a big win for us. She didn’t invalidate the reuse plan.”

While foes had hoped McConnell would force the county to stop planning for the airport, they were pleased that parts of the document will be recirculated for public review.

“I think it’s another good day in the long string of good days that we’ve been having lately,” said Richard Dixon, chairman of the planning authority. “We classify that as another victory for our side. She has upheld the fact that the EIR is flawed, period. It’s a double whammy because they not only have to fix it but also recirculate it.”

The judge ruled in October that the environmental report understated the airport’s impact on noise, pollution and traffic for the surrounding communities. County officials are planning to appeal McConnell’s ruling, saying they disagree that the document is flawed.

The new portions of the environmental report must be circulated for public review for 45 days and must address regional air quality, traffic and noise. Further, additions to the report must address the impacts the project will have on threatened and endangered species as well as mitigation for the loss of agricultural land.

McConnell expects the county to deal with these issues based on the assumption that John Wayne Airport will remain open and operating at its maximum capacity rather than the county’s assumption that John Wayne would grow, then ultimately be closed.

The county must also assess the impact an airport will have on traffic by looking at existing road conditions, not by assuming that a new transportation infrastructure will be built to handle the extra traffic created by the airport.

McConnell did not impose a deadline on recirculating the report, but county officials expect to have a time frame within two weeks.

The 4,700-acre surplus military base is scheduled to close in 1999. This April, county officials are expected to unveil a master plan for the airport and the surrounding land. The reuse planning authority will also present its non-aviation plan for the military base in April.

In 1994, a majority of county voters approved Measure A, which essentially cleared the way for an airport. Two years later, Measure S, which would have overruled Measure A, was defeated at the polls.

In other El Toro-related developments, county Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Thomas W. Wilson sent a letter this week to Federal Aviation Administration head Jane Garvey asking that the agency look into the runway safety issue at the Marine base.

Currently, county planners expect 70% of the takeoffs to occur on the east/west runway, but the nation’s two pilot unions have expressed concerns over the safety of those runways since the jets would be taking off with a tail wind directly toward the mountains.

So far, the FAA has not made any public statements on runway safety at the base.

Wilson and Spitzer stated that before the county spends more money on airport planning, the FAA should determine whether the current runway configuration is feasible.