City Assailed for Base-Panel Tactics : Land use: Supervisors say Lake Forest’s membership in 2 groups--one with county and other with anti-airport faction--compromises objectivity.

Supervisors William G. Steiner and Harriett M. Wieder charged Thursday that Lake Forest city officials have compromised their objectivity and should step down from the county agency planning the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In the latest salvo in what is an increasingly bitter battle over the future of the base, the supervisors charged Lake Forest officials with “playing both sides of the street” by their dual membership on the county agency and a coalition of South County cities opposed to a commercial airport on the base. Four cities, including Lake Forest, have formed a joint powers authority to pay for their own studies of issues surrounding the 4,700-acre base.

“I feel like they really ought to resign,” Steiner said of Lake Forest’s membership on the board of directors of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. He labeled Lake Forest officials’ actions “schizophrenic” and “inconsistent.”

Wieder agreed, suggesting that any city in the South County coalition should not be part of the planning authority. She also said that the divisiveness of the base issue “underscores” her support for the countywide ballot initiative on the future of the base scheduled for November.

“This issue is just too fraught with emotionalism,” Wieder said. “I don’t generally believe in initiatives as a way of making public policy. I call it shopping mall government. However, in this case the people need to be heard.”

Lake Forest Mayor Marcia Rudolph said city officials have the right to spend taxpayers’ money to study all aspects of the base closure, which will have major impacts on her city.

“I don’t see how this makes us less objective,” Rudolph said. “Come on, we, as Lake Forest residents, are the--put that in 10-inch print-- the most affected population. We live the closest” to the base.

For the year and a half since the federal government announced that the base will be closed, its future use has been highly controversial and has generally divided the county along north-south lines. North County cities have favored developing a commercial airport, while South County cities have insisted that an airport would foul their communities with noise and traffic.

The divisiveness led to a nasty battle over the makeup of the base reuse authority. Only one South County member--Lake Forest--was placed on the nine-member authority board of directors.

The lack of representation led the South County cities of Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel and Laguna Hills to form a coalition and set aside funds to pay for independent studies of the base issue. Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Beach are considering joining.

Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel have pledged $200,000 each, while Lake Forest and Laguna Hills have budgeted $150,000 and $100,000, respectively, for “base-related issues,” including everything from travel expenses to environmental studies.

Steiner, however, said Lake Forest should let the base planning authority process work.

“It was a rather significant act to include Lake Forest . . . in the planning process for what is essentially land that is in the authority of the Board of Supervisors,” Steiner said. “We brought Lake Forest into that process with the best of intentions, and now it looks like they are playing both sides of the street.”

Rudolph said she was “sorry they feel we have compromised our position,” but that Lake Forest has no intention of resigning from the base planning authority and doubts there will be an action to remove them.

“I don’t think there is any mechanism to kick us off,” Rudolph said. “If they did they would subject this county to total chaos.”