Federal Grant on El Toro Reuse Called ‘Done Deal’ : Redevelopment: County officials hopeful after meeting with Defense Department official.

Seemingly on the brink of losing a $1-million federal planning grant for redevelopment of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Orange County officials engaged in major damage control in the nation’s capital Thursday and received reassurances that the money will come their way.

While the Defense Department official in charge of the project made no firm commitment after a meeting with county executives and members of the local congressional delegation, others in attendance said there was no doubt that the money would reach Orange County.

“We are all considering it a done deal,” said Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who had the meeting in his Capitol Hill office.

Still unresolved, however, is the issue that landed the county in hot water in the first place: whether the Pentagon will forgive the county for not following Defense Department guidelines when it chose the planning firm P&D; Consultants to do the work.

The Defense Department’s Office of Economic Adjustment, which oversees planning for military base conversions, had threatened to cancel the grant unless the county sent the contract out to bid. The Pentagon claimed that the county did not adequately compare costs when it chose P&D; instead of another group, led by Bill Vardoulis Engineering, that offered a bid at almost half the cost.

The P&D; contract will cost $2.7 million--$1 million expected to be funded by the Pentagon; $200,000 from the Federal Aviation Administration; $500,000 that was to have been used for county roads, parks and flood control; and $1 million from airport revenue.

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In defense of the decision to choose P&D;, interim John Wayne Airport Director O.B. Schooley said after the meeting on Thursday that the difference of opinion was over “process.”

The county decided to have one firm combine three studies instead of separating them, “and that’s not something the OEA usually sees,” Schooley said. He said the county followed the FAA’s bidding rules for aviation studies, which are different from the Pentagon’s, even though most of the money would be coming from the Defense Department.

It was unclear whether those arguments persuaded Paul Dempsey, the Office of Economic Adjustment chief who will decide the issue.

When asked if the county would be required to bid the contract--and further delay the politically sensitive planning for future use of the Marine base--Dempsey responded: “Anything is possible at this point. We are just going to look at the issue, and we are going to do whatever we can to keep the process going down the road. . . . We have not reached any conclusions.”

Dempsey said a final decision could come “in a matter of weeks.” But in the privacy of Dornan’s office, where Dempsey faced 14 Orange County and congressional officials, Dornan said, Dempsey offered to resolve the matter in two weeks. Besides Dornan, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) attended the meeting.

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In Orange County, a consultant for South County residents who oppose a commercial airport at the Marine base cautioned the federal government not to squander $1 million on a study that could be moot if voters get another chance to decide the future use of El Toro.

Taxpayers for Responsible Planning should know by Nov. 5 whether they have qualified for the March 26 ballot a measure to overturn a previous county vote in favor of an airport at El Toro. For the Pentagon “to make a decision [on the grant] before we know whether the initiative has qualified would be foolish at this point,” said the consultant, Norm Grossman.

“This whole process is being rushed for political purposes” by those supporting the commercial airport, Grossman contended. “Why isn’t the [Pentagon’s] process being followed? Why aren’t people playing by the rules?”