It’s Time for Board to Take North-South Split Seriously

The recent talk about secession and economic boycotts coming from south Orange County in the wake of the supervisors’ airport vote is disturbing and counterproductive. However, many of the angry reactions now coming from central and northern county voices show how badly the possibility of lasting and damaging discontent over the airport issue was underestimated by those pushing an international airport.

Many who are now blaming the media and others for allegedly fomenting these separatist sentiments had adequate warning as far back as early 1995 that this issue was as potentially explosive as it is. This was manifest in talk of secession arising from concern that the south was not represented adequately on base reuse discussion. It was apparent then that serious division could be headed off only by a broader consideration of alternatives, and by a commitment to a much smaller airport than the one that has dominated the public policy debate thus far.

Those things didn’t happen in 1996. The supervisors in December did demonstrate that they had caught up with some of the depth of feeling. They said they would seek restrictions on the size and operations of the airport. It was also apparent that the gesture in favor of a 25-million-passenger maximum, and the restrictions imposed, did not go far enough.

There are some in the south who will not be appeased by any compromise because they are convinced that future boards will find reasons to expand to the 38.3-million-passenger airport that was the subject of the environmental impact report. Some of these opponents are forthright in saying that they do not believe that any airport should be built. It is going to be very difficult to compromise with this segment of the population, but that does not mean that a plan acceptable to a broader community constituency is impossible to achieve.

It is toward this realistic compromise that planners now must move deliberately and openly. It is entirely possible that some kind of limited-use airfield, which supplements John Wayne Airport, can be approved and built with very little effect on surrounding communities. The pursuit of that goal now awaits only the resolve of the county leadership.

The opportunity lies in the instruction that county staff now has to investigate various size airports up to the 25-million-passenger cap. The county must send a clear and strong signal to the community that it will work with the cooperation and advice of the nearby cities to design such a facility, and that it has no intention of pursuing further the big international airport option.

It also should explore other compatible commercial development at the site. This is a discussion that, as we have observed previously, has been entirely inadequate to date.

A more pragmatic and accommodating view now must prevail if an airport is ever to win a modicum of community acceptance. Already, we are seeing signs beyond the threat of secession of the depths of division. A lawsuit filed by a citizens group on Jan. 10 challenges factual material for the basis of the supervisors’ decision, and the previous day, a band of South County cities filed a similar lawsuit. Even Irvine found itself divided over Councilman Barry J. Hammond’s decision to participate on the El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission.

The supervisors are key to the task of taking seriously the threat of division inherent in the airport debate. It is they who set the tone for the discussion and give the instructions to county staff.

The county must make it plain that it will come forward with an airport proposal of modest scale. It must make this promise in a credible way while it also pursues alternative reuse plans for the surrounding area of the base. This is the year to get that done.