Parks Orange County

Supporters of an urban park at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station will hold a rally today to promote an initiative for the March ballot. Great Park Day from 1 to 5 p.m. at Crown Valley Community Park will include speeches by opponents of a plan to convert the base to an international airport. An appeals court panel in San Diego is deciding whether to allow the measure on the ballot.

Great Park supporters hauled 175,000 petition signatures in the back of a rented armored truck Wednesday, delivering double the number needed to let Orange County voters decide whether to create an urban preserve rather than build an airport at the former El Toro Marine base. But the validity of the signatures remains in doubt pending a state appeals court decision on whether the language of the proposed March 2002 ballot measure is misleading.

"Great Park" supporters hauled 175,000 petition signatures in a rented armored truck Wednesday, delivering more than double the number needed to let Orange County voters decide whether to build an urban preserve rather than an airport at the former El Toro Marine base. But the validity of the signatures remains in doubt pending a state appeals court decision on whether the language of the proposed March 2002 ballot measure is misleading.

A San Diego court of appeal on Friday breathed new life into the effort to build an urban park at the El Toro Marine base, staying a lower court ruling that effectively killed the efforts to place the issue on the March ballot. The preliminary ruling means that the 128,000 signatures gathered to place the "Great Park" plan on the ballot can be submitted to the county registrar for certification.

A San Diego appeals court on Friday breathed new life into the effort to build an urban park at the former El Toro Marine Corps base, staying a lower court ruling that effectively killed efforts to place the issue on the March ballot. The preliminary ruling means that the 128,000 signatures gathered to place the "Great Park" plan on the ballot can be submitted to the county registrar for certification.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided not to appeal a judge's ruling that voided petitions with about 128,000 signatures on an initiative that calls for a sprawling urban park rather than a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine base. The initiative, if successful, could block plans for an airport at the mothballed base. Tuesday's 3-2 vote mirrors the historic split on the board in favor of an airport there.

Orange County supervisors deadlocked Tuesday on whether to order an appeal of a judge's ruling that voided petitions on the Great Park ballot initiative. With Supervisor Chuck Smith out of town on county business, the remaining four supervisors split on the issue, which frustrated Supervisor Todd Spitzer because the appeal was recommended by the county's chief executive, Michael Schumacher, and county counsel, Laurence M. Watson. "They can't let their politics interfere," Spitzer said.

Supporters of an urban park instead of an airport at the former El Toro Marine base will appeal a judge's ruling today that voided petitions with 128,000 signatures aimed at putting a park initiative before the county's voters in March. Meanwhile, people who want an El Toro airport but with different runway alignments on Monday presented their proposed initiative language to county officials for review.

Organizers of a proposed initiative to build a park instead of an airport at El Toro said Wednesday that a judge's order invalidating petitions collected so far would affect 128,000 signatures, much more than the 50,000 originally believed. Len Kranser of Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities said organizers did a more thorough count of the petitions after Superior Court Judge James Gray ruled Tuesday that the current signatures were invalid.

Backers of a bid to build a park instead of an airport at the El Toro Marine base said a judge's order invalidating petitions collected so far would affect 128,000 signatures, far more than the 50,000 first believed. Len Kranser of Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities said organizers did a more thorough count after Judge James Gray's ruling Tuesday. That count found that organizers were much further along in the process than was thought.