Board Won’t Back Group’s El Toro Plan : Conversion: Supervisors’ stand means Lincoln Club would have to work to get base-use initiative on November ballot.

A majority of Orange County supervisors said Tuesday they will not support a proposal by leaders of the influential Lincoln Club that would allow voters to decide whether El Toro Marine Corps Air Station should be converted to a commercial airport.

The supervisors’ position means that if Lincoln Club leaders want an initiative placed on the November ballot, they will have to do it themselves by funding a petition-gathering campaign.

In a recent letter to Lincoln Club members, Supervisor Roger R. Stanton said the initiative should not be put to voters until all the facts are in on whether an airport is a good use of the 4,700-acre base, which is scheduled for closure by 1999.

The supervisor’s letter was addressed to businessmen George Argyros, Buck Johns and Lincoln Club President Doy Henley, whose conservative political organization includes some the county’s most powerful business leaders.

The letter effectively kills the prospect of supervisors placing the issue on the Nov. 8 ballot as the club leaders had preferred, since Stanton’s support was considered pivotal on the split five-member Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder had earlier indicated her support for placing the issue on the ballot and Supervisor William G. Steiner was willing to consider it. But Steiner said Tuesday he now favors Stanton’s position, which urges that officials continue to work on base conversion proposals through the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

“I thought that we could continue our fact-finding and place this on the ballot at the same time,” Steiner said. “I don’t think the two approaches could work side by side. I think we already have a process in place and it needs to be played out.”

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Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, vice chairman of the El Toro planning authority, said he had never favored an airport referendum but preferred to work through the existing authority.

“I arrived at my decision independent of the letter,” Vasquez said. “I’m content to stay on the course we are following.”

Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley, who also is chairman of the El Toro planning authority, was recovering from recent surgery and could not be reached for comment.

Wieder also could not be reached for comment.

Argyros, Johns and Henley said Stanton’s letter was “not a surprise,” adding that meetings with key backers of the initiative would continue to determine how the process should move forward.

“There are plenty of solid facts to make the (airport) decision now,” Argyros said. “What happened, frankly, is that the Board of Supervisors did not have the guts to make the decision now.”

Argyros, head of Costa Mesa-based Arnel Development Co. and a member of Gov. Pete Wilson’s now-defunct base closure commission, criticized supervisors as being traditionally slow to resolve major issues such as the decade-old problem of where to place a new county jail. The El Toro issue, he said, is another example of a leadership vacuum in local government.

“We really don’t have any statesman-like actions that come out of that board,” Argyros said.

Said Johns: “We are all trying to do what’s right for the county. Those of us who are pushing this have very strong feelings that Orange County is in need of this infrastructure.”

Several public opinion surveys--including a Lincoln Club-funded poll--have shown voters almost equally divided on whether there should be an airport at El Toro.

As proposed, the ballot measure calls for an amendment to the county’s General Plan that would require a civilian airport on about 2,000 acres of the base. If approved, it would also allow for the interim use of the base by commercial air cargo carriers while the Marine Corps mission is phased out.

If club leaders go ahead with the petition-gathering campaign, organizers expect to spend up to $100,000 to collect the 66,703 needed signatures. The petitions must be submitted by June 1.

“There’s some concern about our timing and we are reviewing that,” Henley said, adding that the group has also received much encouragement. “But it’s such an important issue that we are going to have it in front of us sooner or later.”

Those opposed to an airport at El Toro have speculated that the Lincoln Club leaders are attempting to force the issue to a vote because they have personal financial stakes in property near El Toro. But all three businessmen said Tuesday that they had no land holdings or financial interest in the El Toro area. Most of the property surrounding the base is owned by the Irvine Co.

“Everybody says, ‘Why is somebody doing this’ ” initiative? Johns said. “I have been working on this airport thing for 15 years. Everybody can look at the motives and stuff. My guess is that there is no chance for us to be involved in anything that happens there.”

Arguing against the ballot measure, Stanton said in his letter that the club’s intention to seek a new airport at El Toro using a ballot measure might somehow be “subverted” by those who have long sought to shut down John Wayne Airport.

“While you view a commercial El Toro airport as a positive economic asset that can benefit the citizens of Orange County,” Stanton wrote, “it is very likely that others see a new airport at El Toro as the key with which they can lock the gates of John Wayne Airport.”

In the past decade, Stanton said, anti-John Wayne Airport activists concerned with increased noise and traffic in the area were somewhat successful in blocking expansion and improvements at John Wayne.

“I would be curious if some of these veteran activists are now able to convince those who are concerned about Orange County’s economy that sufficient common interest now exists to justify an alliance,” Stanton stated in his letter.

Henley said he was disappointed in Stanton’s concern for such an alliance.

“The Lincoln Club exists to be involved in good government issues, and that’s the only reason we are interested,” Henley said. “We think it’s an important decision for the county.”

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Irvine Mayor Michael Ward, whose city like other South County municipalities have been opposed to a commercial airport at El Toro, was encouraged by Stanton’s letter.

“People think that with El Toro, you just start flying commercial planes in and out of there,” Ward said. “I really think (the Lincoln Club) needs to stop and think about it because, like Supervisor Stanton says, what happens if they lose?”

Members of the business community, who are generally considered in favor of an airport, have been privately considering the political consequences if voters reject a ballot measure calling for a commercial airport at El Toro.

“If it loses, you will set back an airport at El Toro for many years,” said one influential member of the business community who asked not to be identified. He added that members of the business community fear an initiative on land use would set a bad precedent.

Last week, leaders of some of Orange County’s major business groups met privately to discuss the El Toro initiative but took no position in favor or against. The groups represented included the Building Industry Assn., the Industrial League of Orange County, the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, and Partnership 2010.

Wayne Wedin, of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, said the groups would be urging that the county planning agency speed up its studies, so that if there is a ballot initiative in November, residents can cast votes based on solid information rather than emotion.

Responding to concern that the initiative would fail if pushed too soon, Johns said defeat of the ballot measure would not be a permanent setback.

“Good ideas never die,” he said. “They just get voted down and we bring them up again.”

Johns noted that it took two tries for the Measure M transportation improvements tax increase to be approved by voters. He also pointed to politicians who suffered tough losses in their careers.

“Richard Nixon was never defeated,” Johns said. “He was temporarily slowed down.”