Board Expected to Exit El Toro Planning Panel : Development: Supervisors’ vote today on withdrawal from the reuse agency would be in keeping with Measure A requirement to plan for a commercial airport at base.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote today to withdraw from the agency charged with establishing a development plan for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, leaving in doubt how building an airport there will proceed.

The supervisors are expected to approve a recommendation by County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider that they notify the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority--the official agency charged with drawing up a base conversion plan--that the county will pull out by Dec. 31.

Sources familiar with Schneider’s recommendation said the supervisors are only expected to vote on the recommendation to withdraw and will not debate any options to replace the planning authority. Instead, supervisors have agreed to develop a new planning agency for the base before the end of the year.

The new agency would have to satisfy the Pentagon’s requirement for community input in any development plan, while complying with voter-approved Measure A, which obligates the county to build a commercial airport at El Toro, assuming it takes over the property when the Marines leave by 1999.

The question asked by some observers Monday was what will happen to the nine-member El Toro Reuse Planning Authority board if the five supervisors withdraw, leaving three members from Irvine and one from Lake Forest as the only representatives.

The planning agency has been working with the Pentagon for nearly eight months and is the official body recognized by Department of Defense officials to develop a reuse plan for the base.

Irvine City Councilman Barry J. Hammond said the supervisors would be acting in bad faith if they abandon the planning agency. Under normal circumstances, the Board of Supervisors would be solely responsible for developing the Marine base, but the Pentagon demanded that Irvine and Lake Forest be included in the planning process, because they would be directly affected by any development plan.

“The board never wanted anybody else involved in the planning process. The only reason we got involved is because the Pentagon refused to give the county status and funds for planning unless Irvine and Lake Forest also had input,” Hammond said.

Although Hammond seemed resigned to the breakup of the planning agency, he said there could still be a role for it. Measure A, which county voters approved last week, requires that the county establish a 13-member El Toro Airport Citizens Advisory Commission. Hammond suggested that this advisory group could be merged with the planning authority as the official airport planning group.

“They (El Toro Reuse Planning Authority) could change the land-use design to ‘airport,’ and use the 13-member group to create an airport use plan. This could meet the Department of Defense’s requirement for community involvement,” Hammond said.

Dan Miller, executive director of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, said the supervisors’ Dec. 31 deadline for withdrawing from the planning agency would give them “some breathing room to decide whether to keep the ETRPA board as it is or modify its duties.”

“The problem is that you have the initiative (Measure A) that spells out certain things and specific guidelines from the (Pentagon),” Miller said. “The board will have to figure out how to go from ETRPA to a new advisory panel called for by Measure A without disrupting the planning process already in place and keep it at a smooth transition.”

Lt. Brad Bartelt, a Marine spokesman, said the military worked well with the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. However, he added that the military “will continue to work very closely with the recognized reuse authority established by the county.”

“It’s within their jurisdiction to pick a planning group, but it’s too early to tell what’s going to happen at our end,” Bartelt said. “The only thing I can say for sure is that they will have to reapply for funding (from the Pentagon for planning studies).”

The planning study for El Toro was expected to cost about $2.2 million prior to the passage of Measure A. The Pentagon has already given the planning authority about $740,000 to pay for costs incurred through December.