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this section. Microsoft Word
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Benefit 1: The Reasonable Airport, Park & Nature Preserve Initiative rezones El Toro back to an airport.
Benefit 2: This Initiative allows for a "reasonable" airport at El Toro to be constructed by providing the right vision for a truly "reasonable" airport and public benefits plan that benefits all of Orange County, the Southern California region, and the entire Nation! This vision proposes:
• An airport plan that finally makes sense!
This initiative directs the Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA) to implement the Pilots V-Plan alternative at El Toro. The Pilots V-Plan is a modern and efficient airport plan, preferred by the Pilots, the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), and the Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control (FAA ATC), and endorsed by the Orange County Regional Airport Authority (OCRAA) and several cities throughout Orange County.
• Flight paths that make sense!
Proposed flight paths of the Pilots V-Plan are over The Irvine Company’s 53,000 acres of permanent open space Irvine Ranch Land Reserve. Reorienting the flight paths not only removes conflicts to surrounding air traffic flows, but provides a safer and more efficient airport operations plan as well. Furthermore, reorienting the flight paths protects the quality of life to all existing residential communities in Orange County by eliminating over flights over and near well-established communities by utilizing the vast Land Reserves as buffers.
• Removal of the controversial east/west runways "fear generator"
The Pilots V-Plan eliminates the single greatest South County fear and propaganda generator used to kill El Toro: the east/west runways. The east/west runways are simply not needed. That and the fact that west flow departures/arrivals would over fly thousands of Irvine and Newport Coast residents, and likewise, east flow departures/arrivals would over fly several south county cities. Rather than propose rebuilding all four runways, the Pilots V-Plan would reutilize the north/south runway and propose one new southwest/northeast runway. All proposed arrivals and departures would be isolated to the county’s open space reserves, over flying only one city: Irvine.
• A reduced and reasonable airport size
The Pilots V-Plan is constrained to serve 18.8 Million Annual Passengers.
• More public benefits
With reoriented flight paths, the Pilots V-Plan means more of the remaining property alongside the airport would be quieter and more desirable, translating to greater public benefits and development/ exchange options.
3. This Initiative stops the City of Irvine’s "land grab"
The City of Irvine is promising a "Great Park" that they simply cannot deliver! Do park-rich Irvine and South County really need more parks? The Irvine Company has already given Irvine [and the entire county] two great parks! The Irvine Ranch Land Reserves north and southwest of former MCAS El Toro total more than 50,000 acres, not to mention the entire Cleveland national Forest! The bottom line is, the City of Irvine wants total control of the property which would primarily benefit the City of Irvine, already one of the largest, most powerful cities in the county.
4. This Initiative prevents the expansion of the John Wayne Airport
Does it really make sense to not utilize El Toro for use as a new, modern airport facility? John Wayne Airport was never intended to be a major commercial airport. The facility is only 550 acres and has virtually no flight track buffer. John Wayne Airport is faced with the same dilemma as other airports in our region: in order to keep up with demands they must face expansion plans in the near future. Why expand an already inadequate facility when the 4,700-acre former MCAS El Toro facility is available? This Initiative prevents John Wayne Airport from expanding which protects all established residential communities in Orange County from the unneeded and unwanted increase of adverse impacts generated by a facility not intended to handle greater and increased flights and usage.
5. This Initiative will bring a consensus
The Initiative brings a truly reasonable and "believable" plan to the local voters, which provides the greatest economic benefits while minimizing the adverse impacts associated with an airport. A plan which means all cities, not just one, benefiting. This plan could very well gain the majority support of local voters this November election.
6. This Initiative relieves the region’s airports from unwanted expansion plans. El Toro airport is needed. Without El Toro, other airports in Southern California will be forced to expand to handle additional cargo and passenger flights. Not all airports in the region can or is able to expand to levels some would like them to. Los Angeles International, Long Beach Airport, John Wayne Airport and San Diego Airport is surrounded by residential communities in proximity's so close that it would force condemnation of homes in order to physically expand. These airports all have strong opposition to expansion plans from local residents. Ontario International Airport would like to serve greater capacities, but is limited by CEQA. El Toro is clearly our best option.
Most cities in Orange County voted against Measure W, the "great park" initiative. The validity of Measure W is currently being litigated in the courts. The Airport Working Group is challenging the validity of Measure W and may be successful in overturning it. Litigation will tie up the Navy’s ability to take any immediate action on El Toro until January 2003.
The Department of the Navy announced March 6, 2002, the day after the Measure W passed, that they would sell the former MCAS El Toro property to the highest bidder. While it appears as though the El Toro option is over, such is not exactly the case. It will be several months before the Navy can proceed with selling off El Toro. This clearly gives us a window of opportunity to place our initiative on the November ballot! If our initiative passes, the Navy will halt the sell of the property and resume working with the county to allow El Toro to become an airport!
Not everyone has turned against El Toro. While Measure W remains in place as "law of the land" as a result of it’s passage on March 5, 2002, there will not appear to be support for El Toro from the local governmental officials, the Department of the Navy, or the FAA. Many local officials and residents in Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Bernardino Counties though, continue to agree that El Toro is our best option, and as such, the push for El Toro remains until every effort has been exhausted. El Toro and the entire regional transportation issue is far greater than the "me only" attitude dominate in South Orange County.
The Department of the Navy in their EIS stated that the highest and best use for MCAS El Toro is an airport. The EIS clearly revealed that neither the V-Plan nor the FAA’s South-Flow alternative could be studied because it was not sponsored by the county LRA. Both the V-Plan and the FAA’s suggested alternative provide an increase in viability, safety and efficiency to the airport.
The Pilots V-Plan was generated for many reasons: The most important of which was to protect all established Orange County residents from experiencing adverse impacts from either an expanded JWA or from a poorly conceived airport plan for El Toro which would over fly hundreds of thousands of existing residents. The "homes" impacted by the V-Plan as reported by the county and copied in the Navy’s EIS, were in reference to yet-to-be-built homes.
Both the county and the Navy failed to acknowledge the optimized V-Plan submitted to the county during their EIR 573 public comment period. The optimized V-Plan was also submitted to the Navy and to the FAA. The optimized V-Plan reorients the proposed Runway 1-19 by 4 degrees, which offsets adverse impacts to the future Planning Area 17 in Irvine. 1/3 of Planning Area 17 lies within the established Policy Implementation Line (PIL), which means the City of Irvine and The Irvine Company, the landowner and developer, would assume liabilities for developing homes within the PIL. The Irvine Company also recently dedicated 11,000 acres of their Irvine Ranch property as permanent open space. This dedication of acreage greatly benefits the V-Plan.
The V-Plan proposes Southwest-flow departures. All planes departing from El Toro in normal operations would fly directly over The Irvine Company's permanent open space Irvine Ranch Land Reserve corridor, also known as the Crystal Cove State Park. Planes departing from proposed Runway 1 would reach the coastline directly over the Crystal Cove State Park at roughly10 miles from departure point. The altitudes of the planes crossing the coastline near Newport Coast are 3 times higher than planes departing from John Wayne Airport are when crossing over the most expensive Newport Beach waterfront homes in Orange County.
Revised 5/2/02
the Pilots V-Plan: intro overview
comparisons review engineering
the initiative | how
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