County Seeking to Control Use of El Toro Base

County officials moved Tuesday to seek future control of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, all but conceding that there is little hope of overturning last week’s decision by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission to shut down the 50-year-old Orange County post.

The Board of Supervisors’ recommendations, urging that studies begin on reuse alternatives for the base, came only three days after the federal commission voted to close El Toro and could intensify the ongoing struggle between the county and a coalition of cities that favor the conversion of the base to a commercial airport.

“I don’t think we should wait on this,” said Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, who has helped lead the local fight to keep the base open. “There are special interests out there now promoting alternatives. . . . But the (base’s) land is in an unincorporated area, and is the responsibility of the county to manage.”

Riley originally advocated delaying any county action until the final decision on El Toro was made by Congress sometime between mid-July and early September. But on Tuesday he called for the formation of a countywide task force that would study all aspects of base reuse.

Acting on a faint hope that the decision to close El Toro could be reversed, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) meanwhile sent a letter to President Clinton, asking that he reconsider the commission’s decision. Cox argued in his letter that moving El Toro’s Marine aviation units to the Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego does not make military or economic sense.

Clinton has until July 15 to either approve the list or make changes. Any changes to the commission’s recommendations must be referred back to the commission. If the package is approved by the President, Congress would have 45 working days to ratify it.

At Tuesday’s meeting of Orange County’s supervisors, Riley asked county staffers to begin exploring how the county could procure federal grants to finance any transition process, or to launch a cleanup of the base in preparation for alternative use. It has been estimated by California authorities that cleanup of toxic waste on the base could cost up to $300 million.

“I think they (federal officials) realize they’ve given us a pretty good kick in the butt,” Riley said.

Kenneth Bruner, an executive assistant to Riley, said a task force could be selected within three weeks to begin work.

During the 3 1/2-month battle to prevent the base’s closing, Riley and others were frequently annoyed by the aggressive lobbying efforts of the Orange County Cities Airport Authority, which was openly pushing for El Toro’s conversion to an air cargo facility and commercial passenger airport rivaling the county-owned John Wayne Airport. County officials want more consideration given to alternative base uses.

Tuesday, the Orange County Cities Airport Authority, led by the city of Newport Beach, said it would allow the county to take the lead in conversion planning only if the county would pursue the development of a second regional airport on the El Toro site.

“If the county buries the airport alternative, then there is a very big role” for the airport coalition, said Newport Beach Deputy City Manager Kenneth J. Delino. “If the county persists in looking at a whole list of possibilities, then the airport alternative will get lost. If El Toro does not become an airport, it becomes a white elephant.”

Although the supervisors all but threw in the towel on the effort to keep the El Toro base open, there were still some die-hards who refused to give up hope.

Cox said that during the last round of base closings in 1991, when the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station was placed on the chopping block, he was one of only two congressmen nationwide who supported the closure of a base in their districts. Cox said he remained opposed to the El Toro closure “because it will not serve the interests of taxpayers; nor will it advance our national security.”

In his letter to the President, Cox said information recently released by the Pentagon showed that the Marine move to Miramar will cost “the better part of a billion dollars” instead of the $340 million originally estimated by the Navy.

But the county’s decision to move forward with the El Toro reuse plan was supported by another opponent of the closing, Lake Forest Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, who heads Citizens for a Responsible Airport Solution.

Because it is unlikely that the decision to close El Toro can be reversed, Rudolph said the citizen group she heads would back the board’s efforts to consider all redevelopment options. The group plans to fight attempts by the Orange County Cities Airport Authority to take control of the land.

Meanwhile, the citizen group has called a meeting for tonight to gather signatures on a petition that Rudolph plans to send to President Clinton opposing the base closure.