Fight Mounts Against Joint Use of El Toro

Community leaders who are forming a countywide coalition to oppose commercial flights at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station said Monday that joint use with the military would worsen Orange County’s air safety, traffic congestion and other problems.

“It’s obvious to us that (joint use) would cause a degradation in the quality of life,” said Marsha Rudolph, president of the Saddleback Area Coordinating Council, an umbrella group for homeowners associations.

The council, along with other homeowner groups and elected officials and business leaders, is forming the Coalition for a Responsible Airport Solution to fight joint use and propose alternative solutions to the region’s airport traffic congestion problems.

Last December, Congress authorized the Federal Aviation Adminstration to study joint use of the 6,200-acre El Toro airfield. The air station, opened in 1942, is located between the city of Irvine and the Santa Ana Mountains.

‘Technically Feasible’

A draft of the study, which is to be presented to Congress on Thursday concludes that it is “technically feasible” for commercial airlines to operate from the base, according to Paul Wilkinson, an aide to Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach). Badham opposes joint use of El Toro.

Also opposed is the Marine Corps, which says commercial air traffic is incompatible with military training.

Irvine Councilwoman Sally Anne Miller, in a statement released Monday, agreed with this assessment. “Passenger airlines sharing runways with highly sophisticated military jets carrying live ammunition is bound to result in tragedy,” Miller said.

Coalition organizers include Laguna Beach Councilmen Robert F. Gentry and Neil Fitzpatrick, Tustin Mayor Ronald B. Hoesterey and Saddleback Valley Chamber of Commerce president Barbara Snyder.

Michael Lennon of the North Irvine Villages Assn., a member of the coalition, said the group will study other solutions to air traffic congestion. He said the coalition plans to present these alternatives to the FAA.

The coalition is circulating resolutions to county homeowners associations and cities urging them to join and contribute from $100 to $1,000 “to conduct studies and the kind of public relations necessary” for what they believe will be a long-term effort, Lennon said.

The government last considered allowing commercial service on the base in 1984. That same year a report authorized by the Departments of Defense and Transportation rejected joint use as a viable option for El Toro airfield.

Taking the stand that military activities were incompatible with commercial air traffic, the military noted in that report that “bombs, forward-firing missiles, machine guns and rockets are stored on the base and, at certain times, loaded on the aircraft.”

About 175 military aircraft, including F-4 Phantoms, A-4 Skyhawks and F/A-18 Hornets, were based at the station, the report said.