Survey says Newport Beach wants El Toro

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- A city-funded phone survey of 250 households revealed

two less than Earth shattering conclusions: They support an airport at

the closed El Toro Marine base, as well as continued restrictions at John

Wayne Airport.

However, the survey, at least according to some city officials,

suggests a somewhat more ominous revelation. Newport Beach residents

widely believe an airport will be built at El Toro, a development that is

far from a certainty.

Councilwoman Norma Glover, who said she had not seen the survey, said

residents constantly ask her why the passage of Measure A in 1994 hasn’t

led to an airport at El Toro. That countywide measure changed the zoning

at the base to aviation.

“There’s a strong feeling in Newport Beach that El Toro will be built,

should be built,” Glover said. “Most people understand that, with

Measure A, our side won. Their question is ‘Why hasn’t it been built?”’

In the informal poll, which was conducted in March, about 80% of

respondents agreed that the city should push for dual goals.

Countywide, support for an airport at El Toro may be close to an

all-time low. In a telephone survey by Chapman University in late April,

nearly two-thirds of the more than 1,000 residents surveyed said they

would support a South County ballot measure, set for March, to transform

the base into a central park.

Newport Beach and county officials have begun studying proposals to

extend John Wayne’s flight restrictions beyond their expiration in 2005.

The pro-El Toro group Citizens for Jobs and the Economy oversaw the

polling over a three-day period, according to the group’s president,

Bruce Nestande.

Residents at 250 households were also asked whether they supported the

city concentrating its efforts toward only one of the goals. Less than

20% supported that tack.

“What it told us is that what we’re trying to do is consistent with

what the citizens of Newport Beach want us to do,” Councilman Gary

Proctor said.

Nestande declined to name the polling firm he used in the survey. He

said a city grant paid for the work. Proctor said the city had asked for

the poll.

Nestande said the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus four

percentage points.

South County leaders questioned the validity of the poll. Meg Waters,

a spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, said the group

didn’t get a large enough sample.

There are more than 35,000 households in Newport Beach, making the

sample size less than 1%.

“I’m not shocked” by the results, Waters said. “But I’m concerned

about the validity of it.”

Nestande dismissed that critique, saying it was political

gamesmanship.

“I could tell [South County] that Jesus Christ sanctioned it and the

pope made the phone calls, and they would question it,” Nestande said.

“That’s [their] agenda.”

QUESTION

What’s going on?

Why do you think there is such a discrepancy between countywide

opinion and Newport Beach’s opinion on an airport at El Toro? Call our

Readers Hotline at (949) 642-6086 or send e-mail to o7

[email protected] . Please spell your name and include your

hometown and phone number, for verification purposes only.