Conservation Group Seeks El Toro, Laguna Canyon Swap

In another proposed land swap, a local conservation group wants to use the closing of the Marine base at El Toro to protect more of Laguna Canyon and also to prevent a commercial airport from being built at the base.

The Laguna Hills Audubon Society proposes turning over most of the Marine base to the Irvine Co. in exchange for environmentally sensitive property in Laguna Canyon still subject to development--as well as a promise that El Toro will not be developed as an airport.

The exchange, proposed in an Oct. 5 letter to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, is the second land swap proposal involving the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and Irvine Co. in less than three months. It was disclosed in August that Department of the Interior officials and the developer have discussed a possible swap involving other wilderness land owned by the Irvine Co. in North County.

The latest proposal involves land at the north end of Laguna Canyon, on both sides of Laguna Canyon Road near the San Diego Freeway and Laguna Reservoir.

“We are concerned about seeing set aside critical tracts of land possessing a water source in order to help protect the migratory Canada geese that overwinter in Orange County,” the letter said.

The proposal would require the Irvine Co. to accept the Marine base land in lieu of a $33-million payment from the city of Laguna Beach for 147 acres purchased by the city on the east side of Laguna Canyon Road, behind Leisure World.

The Irvine Co. had planned to build 1,514 housing units and a commercial center at the site but agreed to sell it to Laguna Beach, which plans to preserve it as a wilderness area. Irvine Co. spokeswoman Dawn McCormick said payment for the 147 acres is due June 30, 1995.

But Jean Jenks, who submitted the letter on behalf of the conservationists, said the city only has $2.5 million available for the purchase and needs more than $30 million to meet the June deadline.

Laguna Beach City Councilwoman Kathleen Blackburn said the city is “currently holding talks with the Irvine Co. to renegotiate the final payment.”

The conservation group’s proposal caught Irvine Co. officials by surprise. McCormick said company officials were unfamiliar with the proposal and declined comment.

The letter to Babbitt also included an important qualifier. Jenks said the group is interested in pursuing the land swap only if Irvine Co. officials guarantee they will not put a commercial airport at the Marine base when it closes in 1999.

“Our proposal expressly rules out the use of El Toro as a future commercial airport,” the letter said.

But David L. Ellis, a spokesman for a group backing construction of an airport, said the federal government “looks to job creation and economic vitality when deciding upon who should receive closed military bases. The gnat-catcher, the spotted owl--these critters don’t create a lot of jobs. So we say, let the Laguna Hills Audubon Society try; get in line and see what the (federal government) says. We think an airport is the best thing for this county. We need another airport to create jobs.”

Audubon Society members said the number of Canada geese that migrate to Laguna Canyon in the winter has increased in the past five years. The birds spend up to four months in the canyon before returning to their habitats near the Arctic Circle.

Jenks said the Audubon Society also is interested in pursuing the land swap to protect grasslands used by ground birds like the California gnatcatcher, which is a protected species, and cactus wren.

In the letter to Babbitt, Jenks said the conservationists’ goal is to protect the seven-mile-long Laguna Canyon in its entirety. She called the canyon “the last pristine coastal canyon from Baja California to Malibu” and said it once had been recommended for preservation by the National Park Service.

Jenks, a Laguna Beach resident, said she was not sure how many acres in Laguna Canyon are included in the proposal. The land is in the city of Irvine and in unincorporated area.

In August, the Interior Department proposed swapping part of the Marine base for an undetermined number of acres owned by the Irvine Co. in North County next to the Cleveland National Forest around Gypsum, Weir and Fremont canyons.

The Audubon Society criticized the Interior Department proposal.

“It seems shortsighted, indeed, to set aside any more forest land at a time when many critical grassland and riparian areas along the Pacific Flyway (used by migratory birds) in Southern California have been, and still are, being lost to relentless, unending urban sprawl,” said the society’s letter.