Transit Board Has Its Eye on O.C. Base

For the first time, Orange County transportation officials on Monday began eyeing El Toro Marine Corps Air Station as a possible site for rail, park-and-ride and other transit facilities as well as a commercial airport.

Despite some concern that they might be acting too hastily since a battle is still being waged to keep the 50-year-old base open, all 11 members of the Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted to study how the planned closure might affect the county’s transportation future. The board did not endorse a specific plan for the base.

The staff study, which may be aided by a consulting firm, was recommended by Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith, an ex-Marine who serves as a representative of Orange County’s 31 cities on the OCTA board.

“The thought here is to just be prepared,” Smith said after Monday’s meeting, held in the county Hall of Administration. “We need to know what the impact could be if the base becomes a commercial airport or is developed for some other uses. We need to be involved in that impact, through planning.”

Smith said OCTA’s charge is to develop a multifaceted transportation system throughout the county. Because of its size and mid-county location, the base could play a significant role, he said.

“If the base is closed, then El Toro should be part of planning that multimodal transportation system,” Smith said.

Smith was based briefly at El Toro in 1952 just before he joined the Korean War effort. He was attached to a tactical air control squadron.

Smith said he believes that the base will someday serve commercial aircraft, but he and other OCTA board members were careful Monday to distance themselves from even suggesting such use of the land.

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, an OCTA board member and ardent base defender, criticized the proposed staff study as a premature message to the public that the base will be closed at a time when the Board of Supervisors is still fighting to keep it open.

But even Riley ended up voting for the study after he was assured OCTA was not endorsing the planned closure, or any particular use of the base.

The base is near the junctions of the San Diego, Santa Ana and Laguna freeways, and the planned Eastern tollway. An Amtrak and OCTA commuter rail line already runs next to the base, and there’s a planned, elevated urban rail route nearby.

After Monday’s session, OCTA Chairman Gary L. Hausdorfer, a San Juan Capistrano councilman, said he was extremely skeptical about the base being used as a commercial airport because of urban encroachment. He said the site may be suitable for many uses. But he said he was uncertain what they would be.

“OCTA has no official role because the chain of command goes from the federal government to the state government and then to the county,” Hausdorfer said. “But it happens that if the base is ever closed, it may have a role to play in Orange County’s transportation system. We have to be prepared to deal with the issues that may confront us in the future.

“This is a story that has many years to unfold in Orange County,” he said. “OCTA is just one of a number of affected parties.”

County officials have estimated that El Toro’s closure--which would eliminate 1,562 civilian and 4,738 military jobs--could mean the loss of between $200 million and $500 million annually. Coupled with the previously planned closure of the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station, the projected annual loss to Orange County could rise to $1 billion.