One El Toro lawsuit settled
June Casagrande
In the wake of the settlement of an El Toro lawsuit, one major player
in the longtime airport battle is expanding its focus as another is
gladly approaching extinction.
After settling litigation over Measure W on Thursday and as the
end nears on two other pending lawsuits, Airport Working Group
President Tom Naughton said that the group will continue to pursue
its long-term goal of seeking solutions to growing airport demand in
the region.
“If El Toro’s out of the picture, what other airport are we going
to lean on and what are we going to do about growing demand?”
Naughton said. “We can see there will be more and more pressure on
the remaining John Wayne Airport and Long Beach. We’d like to see
some positive answers and someone moving in that direction and we
don’t see that right now.”
At the same time, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which was
created to oppose a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine
Air Base, is close to closing up shop.
“This week’s settlement is probably one of the last nails in the
coffin of an El Toro Airport,” said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for the
group. “We’re hoping that once this is wrapped up we’ll pretty much
be done. Hopefully, we’re going to be selling some old furniture
pretty soon.”
On Thursday, one of the last lingering battles over an El Toro
Airport was resolved when the planning authority, the Airport Working
Group, the city of Irvine, the Orange County Regional Airport
Authority and other parties arrived at a settlement to close the door
on several outstanding lawsuits. All three lawsuits in the global
agreement had been decided by courts, but Airport Working Group and
other parties still had the right to appeal the court rulings.
Thursday’s settlement means they forfeit the right to appeal. In
return, Airport Working Group received a $100,000 settlement from
Waters’ group.
Two other El Toro-related lawsuits by the Airport Working Group
are still pending but could be resolved as soon as next week. The
group has separate suits against the city of Irvine and the Local
Agency Formation Commission, both over the annexation of the closed
Marine air base to Irvine. Airport Working Group leaders charge that
environmental studies on El Toro failed to consider the effects of
crushing up to 900 acres of former runway concrete.
“Ideally we would like to seem them forced to produce a
supplemental [environmental impact report],” Naughton said.
The suit against the Local Agency Formation Commission is also
based on the environmental study. The working group alleges that the
commission’s decision to annex El Toro is faulty because it is based
on incomplete environmental studies.
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