County’s Impact Study on Airport Labeled ‘Bizarre’

SANTA ANA — The preliminary report county supervisors relied on to launch plans for a commercial airport at El Toro is so riddled with errors, absurd conclusions and “truly bizarre reasoning” that the project should be immediately stopped, a citizens group demanded in a lawsuit Friday.

The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court by Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, is the second in as many days to challenge the adequacy of the project’s environmental impact report and accuse the county of intentionally downplaying an airport’s impact on the surrounding communities.

“When you have faulty data, you are going to draw the wrong conclusions,” group co-chairman Bert Hack said of the report. “You put garbage in and you get garbage out.”

The lawsuit charged that the environmental report:

* “Systematically understated” an airport’s impact on noise, traffic, air pollution, safety and home values in the areas surrounding the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station;

* Minimized the extent to which an airport would affect endangered and threatened species, including falcons and hawks;

* Failed to show how the county would mitigate an airport’s impact on neighboring communities.

County officials have defended their impact report as providing all the needed analysis for the preliminary planning stages. Future studies, county planners say, will provide the detailed analysis that airport opponents are requesting.

County Counsel Lawrence M. Watson said Friday that he had not yet read the latest lawsuit, but felt confident the county’s initial report can withstand a legal challenge.

A band of South County cities--including Irvine, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano--filed a similar lawsuit on Thursday.

Rulings favorable to the plaintiffs in the two lawsuits could not actually kill the airport project, but could deal the project a major setback and give airport opponents more time to mount their fight.

Airport supporters said they were not surprised--or worried.

“Clearly, they are part of the ‘no airport’ option group,” said Bruce Nestande, who has headed efforts in favor of a commercial airport at El Toro. “I don’t think [the lawsuit] will be successful.”

The lawsuits had to be filed by Friday, the final day of a 30-day time limit for challenging the supervisors’ Dec. 11 decision to pursue plans to transform the Marine base into a civilian airport.

In other developments Friday, the Irvine City Council found itself sharply divided over a councilman’s decision to participate on the El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission, a panel overseeing reuse plans for the base.

The cities of Irvine and Lake Forest have boycotted the commission for two years, arguing that they deserved a decision-making role--not merely an advisory one--in the planning process, and accusing the panel of being biased in favor of the airport.

Irvine Councilman Barry J. Hammond, an airport opponent, applied for an opening on the panel.

“This is just another way to fight the airport,” Hammond said. “I’m of the mind-set that it’s a good idea to be a strong opponent in the enemy’s camp.”

Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea said Hammond’s bid for a seat on the advisory commission was nothing less than a betrayal, and sends the wrong message to those in South County who have long been suspicious that Irvine would sacrifice the interests of other cities to get the best deal for itself.

“We just filed a lawsuit against the county, and now we are working with them. . . I think our credibility is at stake because of one council member,” Shea said. “South County has always been insecure about Irvine rolling over and supporting the county, and we need to be clear to our South County friends that we will not do that.”

After a heated discussion at a Thursday night meeting attended by mayors from across the county, most North County cities voted to endorse Hammond’s appointment, but nine South County cities, as well as Anaheim and Santa Ana, abstained from voting.

Shea said she will ask the Irvine City Council on Tuesday to reaffirm its boycott of the El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission. If successful, she said she would ask Hammond to resign from the El Toro commission, or possibly face censure.

“Christina Shea does not speak for all of Irvine,” Hammond remarked Friday, adding that he believes he has support on the council for his position. “I think it’s time to take on a broader battle against the airport.”