Cohesion Needed in Plans for El Toro Base : Proposed Airport Has Caused Rifts, but Warring Parties Will Have to Reach Agreement

In the best of all worlds, Orange County could and should have produced an orderly range of options for the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, slated for closure by 1999. Alas, nothing is simple in this most complex of regional land-use decisions. When all the studies are finally in, the county well may have a range of possible uses, but the process is anything but cooperative.

Irvine, for example, is very aware of Measure A, the initiative that passed narrowly last November calling for a commercial airport at the site, but is behaving as if it wishes it would go away.

Unwilling to lend credence to the county’s planning because it believes the fix is in, and endorsing efforts of a South County citizens group to overturn the measure, Irvine has approved the hiring of its own consultant to plan for the part of the base within city jurisdiction. Among the proposals that will be examined are many of the ideas that readily present themselves as alternatives to an airport, namely a mixture of office, commercial and residential uses, a sports stadium with accompanying commercial uses, and a university campus.

Meanwhile, the separate county El Toro Airport Citizens Advisory Commission has been recognized as the official planning group for the base by the federal government. The county is so exasperated with resistance to its work that the Board of Supervisors last week voted to exclude Irvine Mayor Michael Ward and Lake Forest Mayor Richard T. Dixon from the commission. The two previously refused to join it.

The result is a situation where Irvine well could amend its General Plan to rezone the land within its jurisdiction for uses it approves, while the county moves ahead with a completely different plan. The issue is complicated by the plans for a new ballot measure that again could raise questions about the future of the base. Clearly, the county is a long way from agreement. It probably will end up with an odd array of options by the time all this is over. Sooner or later, the warring parties are going to have to come to a better meeting of minds.