IRVINE : Council to Decide Stance on El Toro

The City Council is scheduled to decide tonight whether Irvine should send a representative to the first meeting of a county task force seeking redevelopment plans for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The council hasn’t met in a month, so City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. plans to update officials about the city’s efforts to form a joint powers authority with five other South County cities that would compete with the county task force for the right to chart El Toro’s future.

If the city decides not to attend the county task force’s Sept. 21 meeting, it would represent another escalation in the dispute between South County cities and the Board of Supervisors over who should craft a redevelopment plan for the base.

The facility is targeted for closure in four to six years.

County officials have offered Irvine one of 21 seats on an advisory committee, which would make recommendations to a seven-member executive committee that would also include Irvine.

But the county is demanding that final redevelopment decisions be made by the Board of Supervisors.

Irvine officials insist that the cities closest to El Toro should have a stronger voice in writing a base conversion plan.

So the City Council has expressed interest in joining a legally binding joint powers authority that would give the county and South County cities an equal vote.

Brady said Irvine is continuing to work with Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest and Laguna Beach to form a joint powers authority.

The council tonight will also consider a request from the Irvine Chamber of Commerce that the city participate in a community forum on the El Toro issue.