Supervisors Undo Planning Agency for El Toro Reuse : Government: The board also excludes Irvine and Lake Forest from a direct role.

The planning agency for the reuse of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station was dismantled Tuesday by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, who also voted to exclude Lake Forest and Irvine from direct participation in the development of the base.

The vote means that the county, led by the five supervisors, will now assume responsibility for developing the facility. Irvine and Lake Forest had a role in the planning process for El Toro until they were excluded Tuesday. Officials from both cities fought to remain a part of the planning process, but were turned down by the board.

The board action killed a hard-won compromise hammered out between the county and the two cities, which had demanded active participation in plans to develop the base when the Marines leave in 1999.

The five supervisors, who had been prodded into being more inclusive by offers of federal funding for planning the base’s development, agreed earlier this year to establish the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. The nine-member authority board was composed of the five supervisors plus three representatives from Irvine and one from Lake Forest.

Department of Defense officials had expressed comfort with the now-dismantled agency because it met their requirement that affected communities, such as Irvine and Lake Forest, be included in the planning process. Now, the county will have to get Pentagon recognition as the new reuse planning agency for the base.

Department of Defense representatives could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Dan Miller, executive director of the dismantled authority, will continue to direct the county planning effort and will go to Washington next month to persuade Department of Defense officials to recognize the county as the new planning agency.

“We’ll ask for their comments and input on the new changes and hope they endorse them,” he said.

Getting the Pentagon to recognize the county as the new planning agency is crucial. Development of the base cannot continue without recognition by federal authorities, who are under no obligation to turn over the base. In addition, hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds, which the Pentagon could make available for the planning process, are also at stake.

Miller said he did not know how Department of Defense officials will react when they learn that Irvine and Lake Forest are out.

“It’s critical that the supervisors get recognition (from the Pentagon). . . . We can’t get federal funding until the military recognizes the official reuse authority,” Miller said.

Supervisors Gaddi H. Vasquez and Thomas F. Riley voted against the proposal, but only because the other board members rejected two minor changes they offered. Last month, Vasquez and Riley voted with the rest of the board to pull the county out of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

The majority rejected a recommendation by Vasquez to delay dismantling the planning authority 30 days to allow Irvine and Lake Forest officials ample time to study the board’s plans to assume planning responsibility for El Toro.

Irvine Councilwoman Paula Werner complained that she and other council members did not learn details of the board’s plans to assume planning responsibility for the base until Friday evening. She asked for a 30-day postponement so Irvine officials could study the board’s proposal.

“This proposal was not developed in consultation with Irvine and the City Council,” Werner said. “We would lose shared decision authority under the new structure.”

Lake Forest Mayor Richard T. Dixon also asked for a 30-day delay and preservation of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. “The federal government has not recognized the mandate of Measure A,” Dixon said.

Last month, the supervisors voted to pull out of the planning authority after voters adopted Measure A, which requires the county to build a commercial airport at El Toro when the Marines leave. The initiative does not require the dismantling of the planning authority, but calls for a 13-member El Toro Airport Citizens Advisory Commission to plan for an airport.

Some supervisors have suggested that Irvine and Lake Forest could be represented on the citizens advisory commission, but this has been rejected by officials from both cities.

“It is inconceivable and unconscionable that Irvine be relegated to an advisory position,” Werner said.

Dixon echoed Werner’s protestation when he told the board that “Lake Forest should continue to share in the planning process.”

On Tuesday, Supervisor William G. Steiner expressed support for the cities’ continued participation in the planning process rather than giving the cities merely an advisory role.

“Measure A still allows for Irvine and Lake Forest to be a part of the process,” Steiner said. However, none of the other supervisors expressed support for this position.

Measure A requires the county to build a civilian airport on 2,000 acres of the 4,700-acre base. The rest of the land has to be developed in a way that is compatible with an airport.