Larger El Toro Prison Site Sought : Conversion: Federal agency now wants 200 acres for minimum security facility. Opposition is forming.

The federal Bureau of Prisons wants up to 200 acres of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for a minimum security prison, considerably more land than initially requested, Marine Corps officials said Friday.

The bureau’s latest request stung some local officials who have opposed such a plan for the 4,700-acre base, which is scheduled to close by 1999.

“I can’t imagine the idea will ever be greeted with support in the city,” said Irvine Councilwoman Paula Werner. “Everybody will be rising up on this. I think there is a real fear among people that their quality of life is being taken away.”

El Toro spokesman Col. Robert Eichorn said base officials were notified late last week that the Bureau of Prisons had submitted the revised request to use ball fields, the base chapel and barracks to possibly house nonviolent offenders.

Eichorn said the bureau’s original request was for only 20 acres, but prison officials Friday said that estimate was not an accurate reflection of its interest in converting part of the base into possible prison.

“You could never run an institution on 20 acres,” said Patricia K. Sledge, the bureau’s Washington-based site selection chief. “The original staff report asked for (an amount of land) that was not realistic. We were out there two weeks ago and took another look.”

The revised application has been forwarded to the of the Navy secretary’s office, which will make the ultimate decisions on base reuse.

Sledge is expected to be in Orange County later this month to present her plans to the county’s El Toro Planning and Reuse Authority.

“We’re not trying to force anything on anybody,” Sledge said. “We want to see how we fit in with the plans for base reuse. But we have to do something in California. Everything is still very much preliminary.”

About 15% of the 80,000 federal inmates come from California, Sledge said, adding that the bureau has designated California as a favored site for additional prison facilities.

The bureau and other federal agencies have priority in the distribution of land in all military base closures.

“When that base closes and the tumbleweeds start to blow across the property, people would appreciate the kind of law enforcement jobs we can bring in,” Sledge said.

A prison at El Toro could mean between 250 and 600 jobs for Orange County, she said.

“We want to come in with the community wanting us,” she said.

Lake Forest Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, a member of the El Toro authority’s executive council, said the bureau’s request was not a surprise, but she predicted that Sledge would have a difficult time selling the proposal in communities next to the base, like Lake Forest and Irvine.

Those cities and other South County communities have also opposed plans for a commercial airport at the base.

“I think there would be serious, serious concerns about the presence of evildoers so close to residential areas,” Rudolph said. “I know (Sledge) is going to give it her best shot. Selling it may be a different story.”

Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes, part of a North County coalition of cities supporting an airport development for the base, said local opposition to a prison may not mean much since federal agencies have first priority in land distribution.

“I’d like to see El Toro used to jump-start the economy,” he said. “I suppose there would be some economic benefit to a prison, but I’d rather have some kind of a factory there than a prison.”

At the same time, Leyes said, there was some concern for locating a prison in such a way that it does not encroach on the possibility of placing an airport there. Leyes said an airport development would take up about 2,000 acres.

“A prison may not be incompatible with an airport,” he said. “The bottom line is that I just don’t know.”