Rohrabacher In Favor of New Airport : Base conversion: Congressman raises hackles among supervisors with claim that South County’s ‘wealthy people’ are behind ‘hysterical’ opposition to El Toro commercial facility.

Wading into an already politically charged debate, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher urged Orange County supervisors Friday to convert the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a regional commercial airport and ignore the anti-airfield “hysteria” generated by the “wealthy people” of South County.

“If we lose this opportunity for an airport because of this hysteria, we are committing a crime against future generations,” Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) said during a special joint meeting of the Board of Supervisors and the local federal congressional delegation.

The congressman’s remarks, expressed during a wide-ranging panel discussion on such issues as welfare reform, flood control, immigration and health care, struck a particularly sensitive nerve with county officials who are caught in a power struggle with the cities for future control of the military base.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) represents the district that includes El Toro but he took a low-profile role at Friday’s hearing, saying he wants to remain neutral on the airport issue. Instead, it was Rohrabacher--who does not represent the base area and does not sit on any congressional committees with a say on the base--who took the most aggressive posture.

“Be bold, be very courageous on this issue. The economic future of Orange County is at stake here,” Rohrabacher said. “The wealthy people are hysterical because they don’t want another airplane flying over their house.”

Obviously jolted by the legislator’s statements, Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the county’s base conversion task force and personally opposed to an airport there, shot back: “It’s good that you’re not running for reelection in the 5th (South County supervisorial) District.”

Following the meeting, Riley said Rohrabacher reflected the view of people who are not affected by the increased traffic and noise that an airport can bring.

“Because he doesn’t represent the area,” Riley said, “it’s like putting something in somebody else’s back yard. It’s obvious that he hasn’t given this issue much thought. I was really surprised when he came out with that.”

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, vice chairman of the county task force, said it was first time he had heard Rohrabacher speak so strongly on the issue but warned that there “should not be any preconceived determination” of how El Toro will be used following its closing in four to six years.

“I’ve always said that I have reservations about an airport at El Toro,” Vasquez said. “People are posturing and positioning before a plan has been initiated.”

The most serious maneuvering was launched earlier this week when South County cities announced they would break with the county and seek control over the base themselves. They were upset after the supervisors voted Tuesday to create an El Toro planning agency that gives final decision-making authority to the county.

Although Riley and Vasquez have expressed their opposition to a regional airport, the South County cities of Irvine, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest and the community of Leisure World are all concerned that an airport development could win out, seriously disrupting their quality of life.

Under federal guidelines, any base conversion plan must win the cooperation of nearby communities.

After learning of Rohrabacher’s remarks, South County city officials took immediate offense and assailed the congressman for “reflecting poor judgment.”

“I am definitely not wealthy, and the only time I have been described as hysterical was maybe one time as a coach of a baseball team,” Irvine Councilman Barry J. Hammond said Friday, adding that Rohrabacher made similar comments to him Thursday evening at a political gathering.

“The question is, do we have to deal with the sound of Federal Express, TWA and United? That’s a whole different ballgame, and to presume that the communities should have to continue to support or go in that direction is a premature assessment of facts.”

Said Doyle Selden, Leisure World resident and vice chairman of the Coalition for a Responsible Airport Solution: “It’s rich people who really want an airport. (Rohrabacher’s comment) is totally unfactual. It’s a disgrace; it’s just terrible.”

Laguna Hills Councilman Randal J. Bressette said Rohrabacher’s comments were “ill thought out and in poor taste and in poor judgment.”

Rohrabacher’s comments also were criticized by Lake Forest Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, who challenged the congressman to meet with the South County coalition “and determine if we are some kind of fanatical, fringe group before he opens his mouth.”

But Rohrabacher, one of three local congressmen to attend the special county meeting, said a regional airport represented a lifeline for the continuing health of Orange County’s tourism and other business industries. He insisted Friday that he had remained “silent” on El Toro’s future before this, but in fact, he supported the closure of the Marine base earlier this year so that it could be converted to a commercial airport.

“People are totally discounting what (effect) more airport capacity would have on the quality of life in Orange County,” the congressman said. “An airport means something to regular people who need employment.”

The politicians did find agreement on some base issues Friday.

All three members of the congressional delegation at the hearing--Rohrabacher, Cox and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton)--pledged to support legislation that would absolve the county from bearing any cost for cleanup of toxic waste at the base. Recent estimates have placed the tab at $250 million, and the supervisors welcomed the offer.

“Legislation would permit us to get on with the show,” said Cox, who helped lead the unsuccessful fight to keep El Toro open. “The process (of conversion) takes ridiculously long. I’d like to see us speed this up.”

Cox said he didn’t know what the “best use” of the base would be in the future, but he again asked supervisors to consider soliciting ideas from developers by auctioning off the entire 4,700-acre base, or parcels of it. Under such a plan, Cox said, supervisors could require people to state their plans for future development of the entire base or on a parcel-by-parcel basis.

“It’s one way to get real-world market value,” Cox said. “People need desperately to get tax benefits out of this land. We need to get this land on the tax rolls as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, South County city officials are continuing work on a draft of what they hope will become a Joint Powers Authority that would compete with the county for control of the base.

Some city officials met with Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) on Friday, the latest in a series of meetings with state and federal representatives to keep them up-to-date on efforts toward organizing a base planning agency.

“We want to make sure that whatever the city of Irvine and the South County put together is something we feel is a credible proposal that the Department of Defense would recognize,” Hammond said.

The Defense Department has repeatedly admonished local governments to unite behind one planning agency or risk losing millions of dollars in federal grants for base conversion.

Hammond, Bressette and Lake Forest Mayor Ann Van Haun agreed that the South County cities can muster the financial resources to support the new planning agency, expected to be unveiled in early September.

“We need to move quickly. . . . I think it’s achievable,” Van Haun added.

The Lake Forest mayor also said that other cities outside the South County area might be invited to join their group, even though pro-airport North County cities have already begun organizing under a third group called the Orange County Regional Airport Authority.

While the South County cities are steadfastly opposed to an airport, they are taking steps to keep their opponents from labeling them “anti-airport.” Several city council members from the region resigned this week from the board of the Coalition for a Responsible Airport Solution because they deemed it a single-interest group.

On another front, coalition chairman William Kogerman publicly criticized Riley for appointing former Irvine Chamber of Commerce President Tom Wall to the county advisory panel that will make recommendations on El Toro’s redevelopment. Wall is considered a longtime proponent of a commercial airport at El Toro.

During the coalition board meeting Thursday evening, Kogerman said the 21-member panel appointed by the supervisors looks “significantly weighted to North County and to a commercial airport, and I am very disappointed with Supervisor Riley.”

“People will get in line and unite and take this battle on, independent of the county,” Kogerman said.

Riley said Friday that he believed that Wall would “serve in the best interests of the county” and would not come to the table with any preconceived plans for future development.

“He is an officer and a gentleman,” the supervisor said of his appointee, a former Marine aviator, “and that’s good enough for me.”