LOCAL ELECTIONS / IRVINE CITY COUNCIL : Airport at El Toro Won’t Fly, All 6 Candidates Agree : A business park, shopping complex or transit center would be preferable, they say. Options for the Marine base, which borders the city, are a key campaign issue.

In the June issue of Money magazine, Irvine was named the safest large city in the country. That was about the same time that Taco Bell Corp., after a nationwide search for friendlier environs, opted to keep its corporate headquarters in Irvine.

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So as City Council elections near, the candidates--who say they want to maintain Irvine’s reputation for safety and make the city as “business friendly” as possible--tend to focus on what could go wrong.

And what could go wrong in Irvine?

Something almost too horrible for most Irvine residents to contemplate: El Toro International Airport.

All six council candidates oppose turning the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport. But even if an airport is never built, the scheduled 1999 closing of the base will have a significant impact on this master-planned community and has become a key campaign issue.

Suggestions have been made that the base, which borders Irvine, could be used for a homeless shelter, a federal prison, a job training headquarters and a regional transportation center.

“Those sound great individually,” said Councilman Greg Smith, 45, the owner of an auto parts business in Orange. “But if you combine all those together, you may end up with something in total that generates as much traffic as an airport does.”

Smith and incumbent Barry J. Hammond, a business mediator, are running for reelection against challengers George Gallagher, president of the Irvine Conservancy, college student Gilad Ganish and computer programmer David Burt. Mayor Michael Ward is running unopposed.

Burt, 26, said that although he would rather see the Marine base turned into a business park or a shopping center, the decision must be dictated by property rights.

“I am not opposed to an airport,” Burt said. “Whoever makes the highest bid should be allowed to do what they want with the land.”

Ward, 48, said he opposes Measure A, which asks voters to decide whether the Marine base should be converted to a commercial airport. More information is needed before a decision can be made, according to Ward, who endorses the ongoing examination of the issue by the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

“How can you put an airport at El Toro to a vote if you don’t have the information?” Ward said. “It’s planning by ballot box.”

Gallagher, 33, is in favor of creating a residential and commercial community at the El Toro Marine base in conjunction with a county transit center that would offer transportation alternatives. But he also is using the airport issue to challenge the sincerity of Hammond’s opposition to a commercial airport at the military base. Gallagher points out that Measure A proponent Buck Johns was a major contributor to Hammond’s unsuccessful Republican primary bid to succeed Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach).

“When Hammond speaks to business groups in Newport Beach, he says an airport must be considered,” Gallagher said.

Hammond, 42, denied the charge, saying he has always been candid about his opposition to a commercial airport at El Toro.

“Buck Johns supported me because I was the best candidate for the race, despite the fact that we vehemently disagreed on what should be done with the Marine base,” Hammond said.

Hammond has proposed that USC relocate to the Marine base, though even he thinks it is “highly unlikely.” If it did happen, he said, the interchange between UCI and the private university would be good for the community and probably not generate excessive traffic.

Other than the USC idea, Hammond said he is not a proponent of any particular use for El Toro. “I’m anxious to see other people’s creative ideas,” he said.

Ganish, an 18-year-old Irvine Valley College student, is also opposed to the proposed conversion of the military base to an airport. He is the son of Haym Ganish, the man who has been battling the city for 12 years over the remodeling of his Kron Street house into a kind of urban castle. For Gilad Ganish, most issues pale in comparison to what he calls the “inhumane” actions of city officials who are seeking court permission to tear down his parents’ house.

“The City Council needs a bit of humanity,” Ganish said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve had more experiences with the city than anybody.”