Supervisors Try Plan H for El Toro : Politics: Board hopes eighth proposal in long battle brings movement in north-south deadlock over base conversion.

Hoping to produce movement in the political paralysis over planning the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, three members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors are expected to unveil today a new proposal to guide the base’s redevelopment.

The latest plan--the eighth in the 4 1/2-month political tug of war over El Toro--is backed by Supervisors Roger R. Stanton, William G. Steiner, and Harriett M. Wieder, and would compete with a plan offered last month by Supervisors Gaddi H. Vasquez and Thomas F. Riley on behalf of South County cities seeking control over future use of the base in their back yard.

For the usually united Board of Supervisors, the competing El Toro plans could set up an internal power struggle not seen since the supervisors split over the ultimately fruitless attempt to find a location for a new jail.

As details were being finalized Wednesday, officials familiar with the latest proposal said it would address some of the concerns raised by officials of North County cities who felt they were being cut out of the planning process envisioned under the South County plan.

Among the newest plan’s major points: The supervisors would have significantly more authority than under the Vasquez-Riley plan, which gave the county only four votes out of 17 on the top decision-making panel; North County cities would have greater representation; and the South County cities would not have veto power over redevelopment options.

Both sides in the north-south power struggle are wary of giving the other control over the planning process, because the leaders of the North County cities want El Toro converted to a commercial airport, while those in South County cities are adamantly opposed.

With a three-member majority lined up behind the North County plan, Board of Supervisors Chairman Wieder said she hoped that Vasquez and Riley could agree to some compromise.

“I think they can count votes,” Wieder said. “Both Gaddi and Tom have been leaving the thing to the cities to work out. They (the cities) haven’t done it. I don’t think we can wait any longer.”

Wieder said she could not provide details about the leadership structure under consideration, but hoped that the new coalition could place the plan before the full Board of Supervisors for a vote within two weeks.

Although an alliance among the three supervisors could effectively kill the South County cities’ plan to control redevelopment decisions for the base, South County city officials continued to tout the merits of their proposal.

These city officials also maintained that no proposal would be accepted by the Defense Department unless it had the backing of both the county and the communities closest to the base.

“They had more than three votes before, and they didn’t get Department of Defense approval, because they didn’t have the city of Irvine’s approval,” Irvine Councilman Barry J. Hammond said, referring to the county’s initial plan to dominate the El Toro redevelopment planning.

But recognizing that the board’s votes are stacked against the Vasquez-Riley plan, council members from Irvine, Laguna Hills and Lake Forest met privately Wednesday with Vasquez and Riley to begin considering possible compromises.

Irvine Councilwoman Christina L. Shea said issues such as giving all five supervisors a role in the process and eliminating lopsided voting power will be considered by South County officials.

“We have not decided anything, but they are issues we are looking at and they don’t seem unreasonable,” Shea said after the meeting.

Laguna Hills Councilwoman Melody Carruth said the South County plan should be the framework for the El Toro planning agency.

“I still think we can get a third (supervisor’s) vote for this (South County) plan,” Carruth said. “This is an issue that impacts all of Orange County. It deserves extensive discussions between the cities and the supervisors, and we all need a little patience.”

But Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler, whose city proposed what has become the framework for the Stanton-Steiner-Wieder plan, said there has already been too much talking.

“The Board of Supervisors is going to do something, with the idea of ‘Come on board and let’s go,’ ” Pickler said. “I think we have to take the bull by the horns and come up with some definite idea of where we are going.”

Officials on both side also conceded that little progress has been made in the ongoing effort by North and South County cities to settle the dispute among themselves.

“We are happy with our proposal,” Laguna Hills Councilman Randal J. Bressette said. “North County has their proposal, which is completely unacceptable to me, so we are moving ahead.”

“I would like to see everyone reach a consensus on this issue,” Bressette added, “but that cannot be done without the South County cities and the city of Irvine having a substantial say. . . .”