County Board Recognized as El Toro Planning Agency : Land use: Defense Department’s decision angers many South County officials, who say they are being left out of the decision-making process.

To the dismay of South County officials, the U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday recognized the county Board of Supervisors as the official planning agency for the development of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In a letter to board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, a defense official said the controversial decision was made because 90% of the 4,700-acre base lies in the board’s jurisdiction and the board “is likeliest to be able to develop an effective reuse plan and implement reuse.”

“After considering the matter carefully, we have concluded that the Orange County Board of Supervisors is best situated to act as a reuse authority,” wrote Paul J. Dempsey, director of the Office of Economic Adjustment, a division of the Department of Defense.

Officials of the two cities that border the base, Irvine and Lake Forest, immediately reacted with anger at being left out.

Although the Defense Department’s decision had been anticipated for months, both cities, as well as other South County cities that do not want a commercial airport at the base, have consistently demanded the right to be part of any base reuse planning authority.

*

“We are extremely disappointed,” Lake Forest Mayor Richard T. Dixon said. “All we ever wanted was a seat at the decision-making table. As one of the directly impacted communities, it would seem that would only be fair.”

Irvine Mayor Michael Ward said the Defense Department’s decision forces his city to file a lawsuit that will “tie this thing up in court for 20 years.”

“I can assure you that this will cause the base to stay vacant,” Ward said. “This is going to do nothing but hurt the economic future of Orange County. Here the county has 4,700 acres that could do a lot to help the county recover economically. Now the only one to profit will be the lawyers.”

South County officials have been at odds with the supervisors and many officials in North County ever since the decision was made to close the base by 1999. City officials have made three visits to Washington to lobby Defense Department officials.

South County cities generally do not want a commercial airport that generates traffic on their streets and flights above their communities, while North County officials have lobbied for a new commercial base, citing its need to boost the county’s economy.

Last year, after months of debate, an intricate commission called the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority was formed that distributed the decision-making powers among city and county officials and gave South County cities a seat at the table.

In November, however, an initiative backed by some of the area’s major developers calling for the county to build a commercial airport at the base--Measure A--was endorsed by voters. That led the supervisors in February to pull out of the planning authority, a move that renewed the debate over who should have the authority on the future of the base.

*

South County officials say they have been continually rebuffed by the supervisors in pleas for help, particularly since the vote in November. Only Supervisors Marian Bergeson and Vasquez, in whose district the base is situated, have helped, Ward said.

“The county won’t talk to us,” Ward said. “They have been ignoring us since Nov. 8. They won’t respond to our letters. In my mind, they are only responsive to a select few determined by the size of their bank account.”