The passage of Measure F on March 7 may have angered those in OC and Los Angeles who favor increased airport capacity for the region, but it could help San Bernardino and Riverside counties lure new businesses to Ontario International Airport and former military airfields, according to the measure’s backers.
Members of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, comprising eight Orange County cities and several grassroots groups opposed to civilian airport development at El Toro in Tustin, said they consider themselves “lucky losers” in Southern California’s race to develop former military bases into airports.
County voters approved Measure F in a 2-to-1 landslide, jeopardizing plans to turn El Toro into a civilian airfield.
“Using the Inland Empire airports, which want all the business that Orange County can throw at them, is an excellent alternative to the El Toro plan,” authority spokeswoman Meg Waters said. “We’ve made it clear that we don’t want an airport here.”
Debbie Acker, president of the Ontario-based tourism and aviation marketing firm Acker and Associates, said the measure “provides a window of opportunity” for Inland Empire airports to attract new businesses.
“With the kind of growth that is expected in the Inland Empire in the next 10 years, we need to plan for the kind of jobs that would support families,” Acker said. “Airports are huge generators of those types of jobs.”
Acker, also a member of Friends of Ontario Airport, an organization dedicated to promoting the city’s airport, added that, if more businesses settle near Inland Empire airports, there will be fewer reasons for Inland Empire residents to commute to Orange and Los Angeles counties.
The March Inland CargoPort LLC,a private development group trying to bring new businesses to 300 acres at March Air Reserve Base near Riverside,took more decisive action in January by siding with the authority and promoting March’s resources at El Toro meetings, said March Inland partner Greg Diodati.
March has intermodal capabilities, open air space, the longest runway in California at 13,500 feet, and is relatively free of urban encroachment, he said.
Measure F, the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative, stipulates that the creation or expansion of a jail, hazardous waste landfill or civilian airport in Orange County shall require ratification by a two-thirds vote at a general election. n
Materna is a staff reporter at the Business Press, Inland Empire.
