Group OKd to Monitor Plans for El Toro Base

SANTA ANA — The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to create an agency to map out the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, conceding that it was not a “perfect plan” but saying it meets Defense Department requirements to begin the process of converting the base to civilian use.

The board’s vote followed a series of sharp exchanges between supervisors and critics, most from North County cities, who were hostile to the makeup of a redevelopment agency board composed of only the five supervisors, three representatives of Irvine and one of Lake Forest.

“Shooting at El Toro proposals has almost become a sport,” complained Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, anticipating the flood of criticism to come. “Today, I think we can bring it to a close and we can take a positive step to move forward for all concerned . . . most importantly for the future of Orange County.”

Board Chairman Harriett M. Wieder acknowledged that “no plan is going to be perfect,” but said that “at least we are getting things moving.”

Irvine Councilman Barry J. Hammond, whose city must be involved in the planning agency for it to meet with Defense Department approval, said the city leadership is “very happy with the proposal” as well as “with the agreement to move ahead with (Irvine’s) annexation” of the base.

The formal motion voted upon by the supervisors, however, did not include that key promise to help Irvine annex the base, possibly by January, 1999.

Opponents of the newly unveiled agency dominated the debate, but the proposal won an unusual coalition of supporters--from business groups favoring a commercial airport at El Toro to Leisure World of Laguna Hills retirees who adamantly oppose the airport, fearing its noise would ruin their quality of life.

While supervisors expressed the hope that their decision would finally put an end to months of acrimonious debate over the composition of the El Toro planning agency, the proposal’s critics made it clear that in their minds the issue is far from settled.

Airport proponents--including representatives of 17 North County cities--raised questions about the fairness of the agency’s makeup, and one community group threatened to launch a petition drive for a countywide referendum on the El Toro agency’s composition.

Conspicuously absent from the meeting were officials from South County cities, including Lake Forest, which previously threatened to form a rival agency if necessary to halt conversion of the base to a commercial airport.

“Nothing formal has been presented to our city, so what would be the reason to be there?” said Lake Forest Mayor Ann Van Haun, who boycotted the meeting.

Vasquez, whose district includes Lake Forest, said later that it would not be a “deal breaker” if the city opted not to join the governing board, but “it would be a major loss for Lake Forest.”

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, who along with Vasquez had previously made an unsuccessful attempt to forge an acceptable agreement, said before the vote: “It’s my sincere hope that we can all finally put aside any lingering differences and start to craft a working dialogue toward delivering the hoped-for analysis of issues which this challenge will require.”

The approved deal, brokered by supervisors Roger R. Stanton and William G. Steiner, was the first of a long series of proposals that had won the backing of both the county and Irvine--the two agencies with land-use authority over the base.

Under the plan approved Tuesday, all plans for the redevelopment will filter through a two-tiered governing structure, with the top, nine-member board considering at least three redevelopment options before approving a final base conversion plan.

The lower-level council, including representatives of all 31 Orange County cities, as well as business and civic groups, will screen the preliminary redevelopment proposals for the 4,700-acre site.

In defense of the proposed planning agency, the supervisors said it was impossible to come up with an organization that would please all sides in the debate over whether the base should become a commercial airport after its scheduled closure in 1999.

Instead, Stanton and Steiner explained, they opted for a plan that would include Irvine and Lake Forest, which are the communities that would be most affected by the redevelopment, with the supervisors effectively representing other cities that sought to be involved in the decision-making process.

“This is the most inclusive process that you can find,” Stanton said.

Steiner said the county made a major concession by agreeing to share land-use authority with Irvine and Lake Forest, even though it has claim to most of the base. Expressing a theme that would be repeated throughout the 90-minute debate, he recommended approval of the plan by saying, “It’s time to get on with this.”

Given that federal agencies have already started considering their own proposed uses for the base, Vasquez said local officials needed to move forward or risk losing their say in the future of the base.

But because the latest proposal was not unveiled until late Thursday, North County cities seeking a more “regional” makeup on the decision-making board asked the supervisors for a 30-day delay to study the agreement.

“At present, no details are available on how the process will work,” Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler said. “We have been given no time to comment on the new structure.”

But in rejecting the request for the postponement, Board Chairman Wieder was among those who chastised the critics for opposing the plan.

“I would hope you would encourage the fact that we are making a decision,” Wieder told Pickler. “I cannot see one thing that will be gained in any kind of a delay.”

Added Riley: “That’s one of the reasons we are four months behind where we should be.”

In addition to Pickler, city officials from Garden Grove, Newport Beach, Stanton, Villa Park and Westminster, as well as a spokeswoman for a Newport Beach-Costa Mesa-Tustin organization called the Airport Working Group, listed several objections to the plan:

* Irvine’s objectivity on the airport issue is questionable, they claimed, since the city’s General Plan, reviewed last August, states opposition to “commercial use of El Toro MCAS.” Hammond, the Irvine councilman, responded that the General Plan refers to commercial use only while it remains a military base. He told the supervisors that the policy document would be amended later, once a redevelopment plan emerges.

* If Irvine and Lake Forest vote against an airport as expected, then that redevelopment option would need the unanimous support of the supervisors to become a reality.

* Irvine’s acceptance of the plan was conditioned on an oral commitment by the county to allow the city’s annexation of the base, and not enough consideration was given to that demand. While Steiner and Stanton acknowledged that was part of the negotiations, that point was purposely omitted from the motion approved by the supervisors.

Referring to Hammond’s commitment to change the city’s General Plan, Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes cautioned, “We ought to get a little bit more than a few comments at the microphone from one council member from the city of Irvine before we sign off on this.”

Newport Beach Mayor Clarence J. Turner also called the plan a “step backward” from previous proposals, prompting scornful comments from the supervisors.

Stanton suggested he might “go to (Newport Beach) and take a look at some of the things you are doing.” And Riley, referring to Turner’s testimony last spring before the federal base closure commission, added, “Newport Beach was the only city that voted to move the Marines.”

But the supervisors’ rebukes prompted Barbara Lichman of the Airport Working Group to complain: “Everyone who comes here with a view that’s different than yours is ridiculed and demeaned. . . We want to be taken as seriously as we take you.”

Following the meeting, several South County officials conceded they may have little choice but to participate in the planning, and then possibly conduct their own studies if the process begins to look biased in favor of an airport.

“At least we are moving forward,” Laguna Hills Councilman Randal J. Bressette said.

What Next for El Toro?

* Lake Forest and Irvine city councils will be asked to ratify the formation of the El Toro planning agency approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors. Lake Forest council is scheduled to meet next week, but has not decided whether the item will be placed on its agenda. Irvine council does not meet until January.

* If cities approve the agency, county will convene its first meeting, tentatively scheduled for January.

* Orange County Regional Airport Authority, a three-member coalition of North County cities, meets today to consider whether to oppose the plan.

* South County cities not represented on the decision-making board will also study the proposal to decide whether to participate.

Source: Orange County Board of Supervisors

Researched by GEBE MARTINEZ / Los Angeles Times