Decision to Join Board on El Toro Delayed

The City Council on Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to join the Orange County governing board that will decide the future use of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The Board of Supervisors had asked Lake Forest officials to join the nine-member board, which was hammered out in secret negotiations between county and Irvine officials.

After the meeting, newly elected Mayor Marcia Rudolph said the council would not discuss the issue until the county and Irvine spell out the terms of their agreement.

“We don’t have anything really to discuss at this time,” Rudolph said. “We’re waiting for documents. At this point, (the plan) looks OK.”

South County cities had sought more seats on the decision-making board out of fear that business interests and North County cities would turn the 4,700-acre military base into a commercial airport.

But after the South County cities failed to win the county’s support for their proposed intergovernmental agency for El Toro, the county and Irvine earlier this month negotiated a compromise and came up with a proposed board that would include all five county supervisors, three representatives from Irvine and one from Lake Forest.

The plan now under consideration has received lukewarm reception from South County cities including Lake Forest, which was left out of the negotiations.

Shortly after the other council members elected Rudolph as mayor Tuesday, she said, “I would like to see--and this is a big wish-- that a joint powers authority be put in place that will truly look at all options for the reuse” of the base.