Countywide : Marines Get Voice on Base Reuse Panel
The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority voted Wednesday to include a Marine ex-officio member on the authority’s board of directors.
U.S. Marine Col. Jim Ritchie was appointed a non-voting member representing the base commander, Gen. Drax Williams. Ritchie will serve as an adviser to the authority’s voting members.
“We’re bringing him in to answer questions that might come up since he has been involved at the Marine headquarters level,” said Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, who chairs the planning authority. “We wanted somebody with the extra up-to-date information that would help us move forward.”
In addition, the board also voted to delay authorizing an environmental study until a specific reuse plan for the base has been decided.
“It would have cost us twice the amount of money to do another environmental study,” Riley said. “We decided that it would be least costly to do it the way we’re doing it.”
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