Notice is hereby given by the persons whose names appear hereon of their intention to circulate the petition within the County of Orange for the purpose of placing the Reasonable Airport, Park and Nature Preserve Initiative on the ballot for the November, 2002 General Election. A Statement of the reasons for the proposed action as contemplated in the petition is as follows:

  1. This initiative divides the 4,738.197-acre El Toro Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS, El Toro) property into three distinct areas: (i) The El Toro Airport Planning Area, (ii) Nature Preserve/Wildlands/Recreational Area, and (iii) Compatible Use Area, to provide the greatest number of public benefits to Orange County.


    2.
  2. This initiative amends the Orange County General Plan by replacing the non-aviation use designation for MCAS, El Toro and other provisions enacted by Measure W in March 2002 with a combination of aviation, nature preserve/wildlands/recreation, and compatible use designations.

  3. This initiative amends the Orange County General Plan by revising the El Toro Airport Planning Area defined by Measure A, to allow for the implementation of a new, modern Airport Plan. The Airport Plan allows realignment of new runways at the closed MCAS, El Toro with prevailing on-shore southwesterly winds and seasonal Santa Ana northeasterly winds and approximately 30,000± acres of Orange County Open Space Preserve and undeveloped lands that extend from the Prado Dam at the Riverside County Line in the northeast to El Moro Bay at the Pacific Ocean in the southwest. This initiative therefore facilitates development of a modern, safe, and efficient airport at MCAS, El Toro which protects the quality of life of all existing Orange County residents by utilizing wide, existing open space corridors composed primarily of publicly-owned Orange County Open Space Preserve for flight tracks in to and out of the airport.


    4.
  4. The local climate will continue to produce a growing population that will demand efficient air transportation that can be provided by the Reasonable Airport Plan defined by this initiative. This initiative anticipates the growth of air transportation to support 18.8 Million Annual Passengers (MAP) at a new civilian airport at El Toro while retaining an 8.4 MAP cap on the small John Wayne Airport that now adversely impacts many established schools, churches and residents.

  5. This initiative also designates land for a regional riding and hiking trail within a wildlife corridor along the entire eastern side of the closed MCAS, El Toro property. This regional riding and hiking trail and wildlife corridor connect with the habitat preserve located in the northeast portion of the property that connects with the Black Star Canyon Wilderness Park at the Riverside county line and the Limestone Whiting Wilderness Park to the north, to the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and Crystal Cove State Park to the south, preserving a true trans-valley recreation and wild life corridor as a public benefit and legacy to Orange County.

 

Ballot Title

Initiative to repeal the Orange County Central Park and Nature Preserve Initiative (Measure W) and amend the Orange County General Plan to reinstate the plan for a civilian airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station ("MCAS El Toro"),

reconfigure the "El Toro Airport Planning Area," allow reconfiguration of the runways, and provide for specified land uses.

 

Ballot Summary

The Orange County Central Park and Nature Preserve Initiative (Measure W), passed by the voters on March 5, 2002, eliminated planned airport uses at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station ("MCAS El Toro") and amended the Orange County General Plan ("General Plan") to authorize an urban park and agricultural, material recovery/recycling, recreational, cultural, educational, employment, public and housing land uses at MCAS El Toro.

This measure would repeal Measure W and reinstate Measure A, which designated much of MCAS El Toro for civilian and related uses. This measure would allow reconfiguration of runways and change land uses as noted below.

• The "El Toro Airport Planning Area" would be revised to accommodate a terminal and runways in the "OCX-V" configuration, which is a two or three runway "V" configuration running roughly north to south and northeast to southwest.

• A portion of the land within MCAS El Toro would be designated as "Nature Preserve/Wildlands/Recreational Area" and would include a 1000-acre habitat preserve, a 500-acre wildlands corridor and a 100-acre recreational corridor.

• The boundaries of the "El Toro Airport planning Area" would be re-designated to exclude the eastern portion of MCAS El Toro.

• A portion of the land within MCAS El Toro to the east of the "El Toro Airport Planning Area" would be designated as "Compatible Use Area".

• A new category of "Open Space" - "Airport hazard Area" would be added. Areas under airport approaches would remain permanent open space to eliminate aviation hazards. These areas are outside MCAS El Toro and are to be determined.

The initiative adds the following land use policies to the General Plan:

• Open space and vacant land would be used for flight tracks into and out of the airport.

• The County would use the "OXC-V" runway configuration as the project for future planning. The County would have to consider pursuing city/county boundary adjustments in the "Cooperative Planning Area," incorporated areas located in the southern portion of MCAS El Toro, if desirable for airport development.

• The County would support retention of the existing runway configuration and the existing limits on passenger terminal configuration, number of gates, curfew, number and type of aircraft, and number of annual passengers at John Wayne Airport.

• Construction of an airport at MCAS El Toro would be in phases, with a maximum of 32 terminal gates and 18.8 million annual passengers.

• The County would attempt to acquire private property in designated Airport Hazard Areas.

The initiative amends other elements of the General Plan as follows:

• Noise Element - States that runway realignment would change the areas of potential 60 and 65 decibel Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) noise, moving them away from existing residential areas.

• Safety Element - States that the "OXC-V" runway alignment supports approach and departure operations into head-wind components.

The initiative states that it is retroactive to May 30, 2001 and vitiates inconsistent activities or approvals thereafter.

The initiative provides that it may be amended only by a vote of the people.

Title & Summary prepared by:
Office of the County Counsel County of Orange, March 22, 2002




the initiative: intro  ballot title & summary  initiative text  exhibits A-E  exhibit F  petition
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