Board Signals Opposition to Care Center Near Air Base : Supervisors: Denial of church plan delayed by confusion over motion. Facility was opposed by Marines at El Toro.

Heeding the safety concerns of military officials, the Orange County Board of Supervisors signaled Tuesday that it will not permit operation of a day-care facility under an El Toro Marine Corps Air Station flight path.

But the word came only after the board created a morning of confusion for the Marines and Lake Hills Community Church, which had proposed opening a child-care facility at its sanctuary.

The confusion arose because the board voted unanimously to support a motion made by Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, apparently thinking it was siding with the Marine Corps.

“I just couldn’t feel responsible for that many children,” said Riley, who made a motion to “deny.” But the motion on the table was to deny an appeal--brought by the Marine Corps--of a February county Planning Commission decision approving the day-care project.

The supervisors passed Riley’s motion without comment. Hours later, county staff were scrambling to figure out what happened.

“The way the motion was introduced was to deny the day-care project, but the way the supervisor actually said it was to deny the appeal,” said Board of Supervisors Clerk Linda Ruth.

The way Ruth finally sorted it out was to record the board as voting to have staff return next week with a resolution rejecting the day-care project. She said the record would carry only Riley’s comment and no vote until the matter is cleared up, presumably at the board’s next scheduled meeting on April 28.

County Counsel Terry C. Andrus, in a memo sent to the board later Tuesday, agreed, indicating that the board’s action was “tentative” until the next board meeting.

In a telephone interview after the meeting, Riley conceded that he had misstated his motion and intended to uphold the Marine Corps appeal.

“I went down to look at the facility and could just imagine a crash happening,” said Riley, who has been a longtime supporter of the church. “It’s just too risky a situation to put a day-care center there.”

Marine Col. Leonard Fuchs Jr., community liaison officer at El Toro, said he received a call from staff several hours after the hearing indicating that the board had sided with the Marines.

The Marines had opposed opening the 180-child day-care center at the church at 23331 Moulton Parkway--about two miles south of the base--because it is within an “accident potential zone” and a high-impact noise zone.

Fuchs told the board that since 1966, four planes have crashed within the zone.

“This is purely a safety issue,” Fuchs said. “This facility would be under our approach corridor, and while we do fly safe airplanes, accidents do happen.”

Gene Pearson, the senior pastor, argued that the probabilities of a plane crashing and hitting the center are extremely low and far less than a child being killed in a car crash. And he said parents in need of day care were willing to take the risk.

“This is one of those risks we accept because we live in a community where planes fly over us,” Pearson said.