Naughton appointed to airport land use board

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Adding another foot soldier to their battle for an

airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the county Board

of Supervisors has appointed a Newport Beach activist to a land use

panel.

Tom Naughton, 75, president of the Airport Working Group, was tapped

to replace Charles Zoffer of Laguna Woods on the county’s seven-member

Airport Land Use Commission. Now, Denny Harris is the only commissioner

opposed to an airport at the former base.

Three of the five supervisors support a plan to build a commercial

airport at El Toro that could handle 28.8 million passengers annually by

2020.

South County leaders quickly denounced Naughton’s appointment.

Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority,

said the selection was “political payback” for Naughton’s support of the

proposed airport.

“They’re getting ugly just for the sake of getting ugly,” she said.

“We consistently have the deck stacked against us by the slim majority.”

Naughton, a former aeronautical engineer for the Boeing Co., defended

his appointment, saying he was named for his technical background, not

his politics.

“I don’t look at it as a political appointment,” he said. “The fact

that I’m an advocate for El Toro doesn’t have any bearing on my

involvement with the land use commission.”

As an advisory board to the supervisors, the commission reviews

proposals to use land surrounding the runways at El Toro and John Wayne

Airport.

On Tuesday, supervisors also named 4th District representative Cynthia

Coad as board chairwoman.

Coad, who also supports an airport at El Toro, succeeds 1st District

Supervisor Chuck Smith.