IRVINE : Base Panel Talks Lead to Frustration

City officials this week said they are frustrated with the slow pace of negotiations aimed at forming a panel to oversee conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to civilian uses.

Council members said a compromise agreement that Irvine and other South County cities fashioned last month with Supervisors Thomas F. Riley and Gaddi H. Vasquez became stalled for lack of a third vote on the County Board of Supervisors.

“They have a plan, but they don’t have another vote,” Mayor Michael Ward said during Tuesday’s council meeting.

“It’s a matter of getting a third supervisor. That’s the stalemate we are facing,” added Councilman Barry J. Hammond. “We feel a high level of frustration.”

Hammond and other council members said that meetings over the past few weeks with supervisors and with officials from other cities failed to end the impasse.

The City Council favors the Riley-Vasquez proposal because it gives Irvine a strong voice in drawing up an El Toro redevelopment plan. Their proposal calls for the formation of a 17-member committee that would effectively give Irvine and other South County cities veto power over any base development plan.

Although it has been embraced by South County cities that oppose converting the base into a commercial airport, the Riley-Vasquez plan has received a cool reception from North County cities that favor building an air cargo facility at El Toro.

Hoping to break this impasse, Supervisors Roger R. Stanton and William G. Steiner last week unveiled a new proposal for a nine-member governing board. Under the Stanton-Steiner proposal, Irvine would receive two seats on the Steiner-Stanton board but the bulk of the power would go to the five county supervisors, all of whom would serve on the board.

Councilwoman Christina L. Shea described the latest proposal as “a start,” noting that it does give the city some leverage.

But city officials stressed that they favor a plan that would give added power to the cities directly affected by base conversion.