El Toro Airport Foes Submit Petition Forms

SANTA ANA — Certification of an anti-airport ballot measure rings the bell on Round 3 of the bitter battle over what will become of the closed El Toro Marine base.

Supporters of the so-called Safe and Healthy Communities Act submitted more than twice the number of signatures required to put the measure on the March ballot. Orange County Registrar Rosalyn Lever said she will certify the signatures today.

The initiative would require a two-thirds vote of the public before the county could build or expand airports, large jails within half a mile of homes, or hazardous waste landfills.

That would force a third public vote on the use of the base, which closed in July.

History favors the pro-airport forces. Voters in 1994 designated the Marine base for an airport by a thin margin. An attempt two years later by south county airport opponents to overturn that vote failed.

But El Toro opponents do not see the issue as a third vote.

South county activist Leonard Kranser said Wednesday: “We don’t view this as a third vote on the airport, it’s a first vote” for bringing power back to residents.

The measure’s placement on the ballot is not assured. A majority of the county Board of Supervisors favors building the airport and probably will order a 30-day economic analysis of the impact of the measure, as allowed by state law.