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4 Cities to Fund Study of El Toro Airport Impact : Development: Coalition allocates more than $600,000 for survey, which will propose alternative uses for base.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A coalition of four South County cities has set aside more than $600,000 to battle a proposal to turn the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport.

Led by Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel, which pledged $200,000 each, coalition leaders insist the effort is not intended to oppose a controversial initiative on the November ballot, which, if approved by voters, would require the county to build a civilian airport at the Marine base.

Instead, spokesmen said the money will be used to hire a consultant to do an independent environmental and economic impact study to gauge the effect that an airport will have on the environment and jobs in South County.

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A consultant will probably be hired in the next two weeks and a report will be available within 90 days, well before the Nov. 8 election, Laguna Niguel City Councilman Mark Goodman said Tuesday. In addition to doing an environmental and fiscal assessment, the consultant will also look at alternative uses for the El Toro Marine base, Goodman said.

He added that the report will not “get into the nitty-gritty of air quality and traffic issues,” but will instead look “at some environmental impact issues.”

The group’s study will be separate from the official study that will be done by the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, the county agency that will decide what to do with the military base when the Marines complete their departure by 1999. The first units will leave next month.

The other cities in the coalition--called the South County Working Group--are Lake Forest and Laguna Hills. Lake Forest Mayor Marcia Rudolph said her city budgeted $150,000 for the separate study. Laguna Hills City Manager Bruce Channing said Laguna Hills appropriated $100,000 “for El Toro-related studies and prospective uses.”

Backers of the ballot initiative were not available for comment Tuesday.

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, head of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority’s board of directors, was critical of the South County coalition, saying the county planning process would be fair to all interests.

However, South County residents and leaders fear that North and Central County communities will dominate the planning and decision-making process, forcing a commercial airport on them. The coalition leadership also vowed a court fight to prevent the building of a commercial airport that would affect “their quality of life.”

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At the same time, coalition leaders are cautious about taking an active role in opposing the ballot measure because using municipal funds for political purposes is prohibited by state law.

“This has nothing to do with the (El Toro) initiative,” Goodman said. “Nobody is using city money for anything that has to do with the initiative. We have an obligation to inform the citizenry on something that will have tremendous impact on their children, daily life, property values and quality of life.”

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Despite the insistence of Goodman and others that the group’s planned study is not specifically intended to oppose the initiative, it appears that some coalition members are already using the document to draw a line in the sand.

“United we stand. We’re going to win it by sticking together because we’re all impacted,” said Mission Viejo Councilman Robert D. Breton. “Life in South Orange County will never be the same if El Toro becomes a (commercial) airport.”

The ballot measure--called the Orange County/El Toro Economic Stimulus Initiative--would require the building of the airport and change the county’s land-use plan to allow its development on 2,000 acres of the 4,700-acre base. It is sponsored by a coalition of business and political leaders.

However, even if the measure passes, it will probably be challenged in court because it does not comply with federal environmental laws, Goodman said.

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“You can’t say this is going to be the use for El Toro, because a federal environmental impact report requires that you look at other alternatives,” Goodman said. “At the very least, the decision makers must have alternatives before making a decision” on how to redevelop the Marine base.

“How can you say you must have an airport there and then say we’ll do an environmental document to look at alternatives. It makes no sense,” he added.

In criticizing the coalition, Riley said he is especially surprised by Lake Forest’s involvement since the city is also a member of the county reuse planning authority.

“I’m saddened by the fact that there are so many interests at work on El Toro that don’t want to let the (county agency) work,” Riley said. “I’m committed to doing what’s best for the county, but I’m not sure of these outside processes.”

But Rudolph said Lake Forest joined the anti-airport coalition in part because “you can safely say that about 95% of our community opposes the idea of a commercial airport at El Toro.”

“That would mean death to our quality of life down here,” Rudolph said.

Lake Forest has had one representative on the reuse planning authority’s board since it was formed. It joined, in part, to ensure it would have a say in the planning process.

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Coalition leaders said the group is fully prepared to sue if the initiative passes or if the county decides independently to put a commercial airport at El Toro.

“If more aggressive North County communities try to skew the process and pressures the county to put an airport there, we’re fully prepared to go out and spend money to do an environmental document to shoot holes on whatever information the county’s consultants bring forward,” Goodman said.

“We’ll tie this thing up in the courts for 10 years or more,” Breton said. “We have to fight this to the bitter end and fight it together. We have to show everyone that this is the wrong solution.

Rudolph said the cities are willing to use some of the money already appropriated to initiate a court challenge to building an airport at El Toro. If necessary, the cities would be willing to budget additional money to pursue the matter in court, she added.

“The ultimate negative outcome of all this would probably be incurring additional costs for litigation,” Rudolph said. “But if we have to do that to stop a civilian aviation facility at the base, that is the will of the people in my city and throughout South County.”

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