3 O.C. Cities Join to Seek a Voice on El Toro’s Future

Formalizing a public policy rift that the Pentagon has warned would halt the flow of federal grants to help plan the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, three local cities officially formed an airport planning agency Wednesday to compete with one being created by the county.

Miffed over their exclusion from the county’s planning process, the cities of Garden Grove, Los Alamitos and Stanton formed the Orange County Regional Airport Authority and said they would actively seek to recruit more member cities among those that do not want the county to have absolute control over El Toro’s destiny.

Pentagon officials have repeatedly stated that they will not look favorably upon rival requests for planning grants from Orange County, and that competing interests would need to resolve their differences and speak with one voice before Washington would approve financial aid for planning for the conversion from military to civilian use.

But as the newly formed agency reached out to key South County cities closest to the military base, the South County cities were being enticed toward a rival planning body by county officials who met with an invited group of city officials in a 90-minute, closed-door session later Wednesday.

Some South County cities are unhappy with the county’s plan to involve them solely in an advisory capacity, and want a “joint powers authority” that would give them a share of the power to make decisions on how the 4,700-acre site will be developed. County government has steadfastly maintained, however, that it should be the sole authority deciding El Toro’s future use.

Ironically, although officials from Irvine, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest and Mission Viejo were demanding a voice as they entered the meeting, they left the Hall of Administration in silence--agreeing with county officials that negotiations aimed at resolving their differences should be kept secret. Leisure World representatives also attended the meeting and refused to comment.

Officials from both sides left the room joking and exchanging light banter among themselves, some thanking each other for agreeing to negotiate. But most officials offered a terse “no comment” when asked what had transpired during the meeting.

Laguna Hills Councilwoman Melody Carruth tightened her lips, closed her eyes and shook her head without even offering a sound. She was one of the South County leaders who stood before the Board of Supervisors a week ago to complain of being excluded from the county’s consultative process.

“We all took a blood oath not to talk,” said the county’s chief administrator, Ernie Schneider. “I was in there the entire time and I never opened my mouth,” said Laguna Hills City Manager Bruce Channing.

No conclusions were reached Wednesday, officials said, but telephone discussions are expected in coming days in an attempt to forge a compromise before next Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

“We are talking now. Nothing has been decided. At least we are talking, that’s the good news,” said Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, whose district includes El Toro.

Irvine Mayor Michael Ward, whose city has threatened to annex the base because of its opposition to the county’s approach, said afterward that officials felt “encouraged” by what was said during the negotiating session. Irvine officials met privately with Schneider after the larger group disbanded.

Believing that a frank discussion on the issue could be better achieved in private, Riley ordered reporters to leave the room as the meeting got underway.

“My intention is to solve this problem that has gotten more difficult in this press environment,” Riley said before the meeting, adding that even supervisors act differently when reporters are not in the room.

The county has been insistent on limiting the participation of South County cities, as well as that of Newport Beach and Anaheim, to an advisory committee that would also include business groups. Many other cities in the county were not considered for membership on the advisory panel, according to local officials.

The county also has warned that cities invited to sit on the county’s advisory commission will lose their seats if they join a competing group, such as the one formed earlier Wednesday by Los Alamitos, Stanton and Garden Grove.

That posed problems for Newport Beach and Anaheim, two cities that in the past have pushed for an airport authority that would give cities a measure of control along with the county.

Newport Beach opted to join with the county, but Anaheim is stalling. Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler attended the meeting Wednesday at which the airport authority was formed, but his City Council has postponed until next week a decision on which group to join.

Officials of the cities that formed the new agency, however, believe they have nothing to lose by belonging to a group rivaling the county’s, since they already have been excluded from the county’s advisory commission.

“We were a little put out by the fact that no one included us,” Los Alamitos Councilman Anthony R. Selvaggi said of his city’s decision to join the new airport authority.

“This is America. Where’s my vote?” said Yorba Linda Councilwoman Barbara Kiley. Yorba Linda is expected to join the airport group next week, and Kiley attended the organizational meeting.

Since the newly formed group failed to enlist any South County cities closest to the base to be among its founding members, and may not have the financial resources to pay for planning studies, county officials are downplaying its significance.

The Department of Defense, Schneider predicted, will not deal with the new airport authority, largely because “they don’t have as a part of their team the impacted communities” immediately surrounding the base.

The new group, however, is trying to entice the South County cities to join them by offering something that the county has refused so far to give--a vote in the final decision-making, and a disproportionate share of the power as well.

Cities adjacent to the base--Irvine and Lake Forest--would each have three votes under the proposed rules. Other South County cities close to the base would get two votes each, and the remaining Orange County cities would have one vote.

“This new authority . . . offers an option to any interested party in the county to be involved in the discussions . . . in a way that gives everybody a voice and everybody a vote,” Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes said. “This model is superior to what the county is proposing.”

Leyes, the interim chairman of the new agency, conceded that South County cities are skeptical of their effort because it was formed expressly with the intent of creating a new regional airport at El Toro, something that is anathema to several South County communities. But he and other members pledged to be open-minded.

An open-minded review of the development options for El Toro “can only be achieved, I think, in this kind of a forum,” Leyes added.

But Laguna Hills Councilman Randal J. Bressette echoed the sentiments of several South County cities in flatly rejecting the overture from the pro-airport cities.

“I have no clue as to why Garden Grove and the others feel they should have a voice in a land use issue that clearly affects only south Orange County,” Bressette said.