FOLLOWING ORDERS: While much of Orange County’s...

FOLLOWING ORDERS: While much of Orange County’s attention has been focused on its financial future, the U.S. Marine Corps’ top priority here has been to close the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station by 1999. . . . Base spokesman Lt. Brad Bartelt says two more FA-18 squadrons will move to San Diego in February and March. VMFA-232 and VMFA-225 will join about 1,000 Marines from five other squadrons and two support units that have already moved to Miramar Naval Air Station. Says Bartelt: “The FA-18 Hornets are adapting well in San Diego.”

WHAT ABOUT US? Architects are feeling left out of plans to close the base. Albert Eisenberg of the American Institute of Architects complained to the Pentagon that the group’s input on base closures is ignored. “Architects have a definite role to play in the future of these closed facilities,” he says. “They will design the projects ultimately decided upon. Incorporating their views can help ensure the successful integration of the facility into the civilian community.” The architects expect a reply from the Pentagon early this year.

WHAT NOW? The future of the lame duck El Toro Reuse Planning Authority is one of the questions hanging over the base. . . . The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Prisons got extensions to April 1 to submit bids for the facility. Does this mean that other federal agencies who wanted property at the base but missed the original Dec. 1 deadline can apply by April 1? “That’s unclear,” says planning authority head Dan Miller, above. “Some people in the Pentagon say yes. Others say no.”

NOT SO FAST: When the Board of Supervisors voted last month to dismantle the planning authority by Jan. 31, Miller said he would travel to Washington to support the supervisors’ plans to assume planning responsibility for the base. Irvine policy manager Peter Hersh promptly reminded Miller that Irvine and Lake Forest were still members of the authority and Miller’s employers. Hersh admonished Miller to “remain neutral and refrain from supporting” the county’s action. Miller canceled his travel plans.