BUENA PARK : City Backs Forming Panel on El Toro Use
The City Council has unanimously endorsed establishing an 11-member executive committee for determining the reuse of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
“We haven’t taken any position on what the use should be,” said City Manager Kevin O’Rourke. “We’re simply talking about the process here.”
O’Rourke said Buena Park joins other Orange County cities that support the creation of the executive committee, to consist of representatives from each of the supervisorial districts, the city of Irvine and the Board of Supervisors.
“It sounds like the fairest way to go” to approach the reuse issue, said Mayor Arthur C. Brown.
The council adopted a resolution this week “in response to the need for the county to establish a fair and inclusive process, incorporating input from all cities in determining the future of this facility.”
The 4,700-acre base has been included on a military base closure list. It is expected to be closed by the Defense Department sometime before 1997.
O’Rourke said discussions about the reuse of the base, including turning the facility into a commercial airport, have mainly involved South County supervisors and city officials. But he believes that North County cities should also be involved in the process.
“The decision of what uses would go in there affects all Orange County cities,” O’Rourke said.
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