Supervisors Woo Mayors for El Toro Reuse Board : Planning: Bergeson says the door remains open until Sept. 15 for Irvine and Lake Forest. The officials, who oppose an airport, have refused to join.

The Board of Supervisors said Tuesday that it will try one more time to include the mayors of Irvine and Lake Forest on a federally recognized panel deciding the fate of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Irvine Mayor Michael Ward and Lake Forest Mayor Richard T. Dixon have refused to be part of the El Toro Airport Citizens Advisory Commission. The commission is recognized by the federal government as the official planning group for the base, which will be vacated by the military by 1999.

Supervisor Marian Bergeson said reuse plans are moving forward without Dixon and Ward, but said she wants to see the two mayors play a role in planning.

“We want to keep the door open,” Bergeson said. She said the dispute between the mayors and the county is one of the biggest challenges facing the county’s reuse planning.

The mayors did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday, but officials believe it is unlikely the pair will relent because the commission is leaning toward building an airport on the site, and the mayors are adamantly opposed.

The deadline for the two to accept an invitation to be on the commission has been extended to Sept. 15 in the hopes the two mayors will change their stand or send someone in their place. But after that date, City Council members or perhaps community or business representatives will be asked to participate in their place, officials said.

The refusal to participate points up the severe divisions between the county and the cities that will be most directly affected by the future of the marine base. Countywide voters endorsed Measure A, an initiative that called for a commercial airport at the site. But many neighboring cities that would have to put up with airport noise and traffic are adamantly opposed.

In other board action, supervisors certified an environmental impact report that concluded that the Theo Lacy Branch Jail expansion in Orange will not have an adverse effect on the community.

The report wasn’t much of a surprise--chief opposition to the plan centered on safety concerns.

Disputes over the expansion have been settled by an agreement reached between the county and the city of Orange, which has agreed to drop legal challenges in exchange for an incentives package worth $10 million.

Supervisor William G. Steiner, who brokered the agreement, called it a “milestone” that will work toward protecting the public. Orange County’s chronic jail shortage means inmates and criminal suspects are released back onto the streets early to meet strict federal guidelines on jail overcrowding.

Whether the county will ever get around to expanding the facility because of the bankruptcy remained unclear. Currently, the only expansion planned is adding nearly 200 beds to existing facilities.

The board also postponed a controversial request to spend nearly $840,000 on a new fleet of sheriff’s vehicles for a week.