Airports Orange County

Rep. Ron Packard on Tuesday joined Rep. Christopher Cox in announcing his opposition to the El Toro airport and signing the Safe & Healthy Communities Initiative. The ballot proposal, if passed, would require two-thirds voter approval for new or expanded airports, jails and hazardous-waste landfills. The measure already has more than the 71,000 signatures needed to qualify for the March ballot.

The Federal Aviation Administration's top regional administrator on Monday told a standing-room-only audience of south Orange County residents that he is willing to bring his staff to "their backyards," if necessary, to check if jets are straying from their routes and flying over their homes. William C. Withycombe made the comment after he was challenged by residents who said that since the closure of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station on July 2, jets have been flying low.

Contentiousness over a proposed international airport at El Toro Marine base has both major political parties in Orange County tiptoeing around the issue as they gear up for the March primaries. County GOP Executive Director Bill Christiansen cringed when asked if the party would take a position on the airport. He said the Republican central committee has "stayed clear" of debates on El Toro because it is too divisive an issue among longtime GOP activists and elected officials on both sides.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that the agency will conduct an independent evaluation of whether a commercial airport is suited for the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. In her first public comments on the El Toro plans, Jane F. Garvey said her agency will hold public hearings in Orange County next year on the environmental impact of the proposed airport on surrounding neighborhoods.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that the agency will perform an independent evaluation of whether a commercial airport is suited for the closed El Toro Marine base. Jane F. Garvey, the FAA's administrator, said in an interview that the agency will conduct public hearings in Orange County next year on the environmental impact of an airport on surrounding neighborhoods and will weigh factors such as noise and the availability of other travel options.

Orange County airport officials on Wednesday announced they are pushing back the Board of Supervisors' vote on the El Toro airport plan from December to next spring, a move that critics said demonstrated a slip in the planning process. "[The county] has said they would have the base, signed, sealed and delivered, when the Marines left by July 2," said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for a coalition of anti-airport cities.