IRVINE : City to Consider Annexing Air Station

The City Council is expected to decide Tuesday whether to move forward with plans to bring the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into the city limits, a move that would give Irvine more say over the possibility of a commercial airport being built on the base.

Even if the council approves all of the action needed before applying to annex the base, the request will not go before the Local Agency Formation Commission for a hearing until next October, said Robert C. Johnson, Irvine’s community development director.

October is the estimated target date, because the city first needs to amend planning documents and conduct a state-required environmental analysis of the plan, Johnson said. The Local Agency Formation Commission establishes city boundaries.

A move to annex the land is expected to draw opposition from a coalition of six Orange County cities that see the El Toro base as a possible secondary airport for the county, should the Marines close the base, Newport Beach City Councilman Clarence J. Turner said. Turner is Newport Beach’s representative to the Orange County Cities Airport Authority. The authority has been arguing for years with a group of five other cities that oppose commercial aviation at the base.

Turner said he will recommend that other members of the airport authority oppose Irvine’s plan to annex the El Toro base.

Newport Beach has been the lead opposition for several years to Irvine’s annexation plan. In 1988, Newport Beach officials threatened to sue Irvine if it tried to annex the base.

“If the base ever reaches the (Defense Department’s) base-closure list, and should it become available for commercial use, I think the county would be better served if the land use surrounding the base is controlled by (Orange County) versus the city of Irvine alone,” Turner said.

Any annexation of the base could be stopped by opposition from the landowner--the United States government. But so far, the Department of the Navy’s position is to remain neutral on annexation requests unless the annexation would harm the base’s functioning, said Col. Leonard R. Fuchs Jr., an El Toro base spokesman. The Marines are a wing of the Navy department.

Annexation by Irvine could help the Marine Corps fight off proposals to share the base with commercial users, such as overnight air-delivery services. Irvine and the Marine Corps have both opposed such joint-use proposals.

Irvine proposed annexing the base in 1985 to ward off attempts to bring commercial flights to the base. Last June, the City Council voted unanimously to open discussions again with the Marine Corps to annex the base. Council members said they were concerned that commercial use of the base would increase noise and traffic and decrease residents’ safety.

If the base became of part of Irvine, the city would have more clout--although not veto power--with regional airport authorities deciding the future use of the base, City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said last week.