Supervisors’ Heads in Clouds on El Toro : By Not Listening to Irvine and Lake Forest, Board Missed Crux of the Land-Use Issue

In dismantling the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, the Board of Supervisors has disenfranchised the cities most affected by the use of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station after the Marines leave. It was a bad decision.

The supervisors had been late in forming the authority, which had nine members--the five supervisors, three representatives from Irvine and one from Lake Forest. They did so only after trying unsuccessfully to reserve the planning authority to themselves and freeze out the two cities closest to the base.

Faced with an ever-widening rift between South County cities, opposed to a commercial airport at El Toro, and North County cities, favoring a commercial airport there, and with loud protests from Lake Forest and Irvine, the supervisors eventually made the planning authority more inclusive. The structure lasted less than a year.

In November the voters narrowly passed Measure A, requiring the county to build a civilian airport on 2,000 acres of the 4,700-acre base and develop the rest in a manner compatible with the airport. It was bad planning, because it limits the county’s options.

Measure A did not require the supervisors to scrap the reuse agency, and they should not have done so. By excluding Lake Forest and Irvine, the board has taken two cities that were part of the planning process and forced them to become foes of the new process. Measure A did call for a 13-member advisory committee, but the two cities said they did not want mere advisory roles when the committee is formed. Lake Forest and Irvine asked for 30 more days before the supervisors voted, saying they had less than a week to study the new planning proposals. But the supervisors wrongly rejected even that minimal delay in dismantling the old authority.

The supervisors did have to acknowledge passage of Measure A, but abolishing the reuse authority appeared to be ridding themselves of a political hot potato rather than advancing the planning. The board also must acknowledge that the federal government did not consider Measure A binding. Washington has insisted that the opinion of neighboring communities be considered.

There have been any number of possible uses suggested for the base, from a jail site to housing for the homeless, to the airport. All will have to be considered, and one way or another, Lake Forest and Irvine will have to be given a voice in determining the future of that land.