Pentagon Urged to Delay Grant for El Toro Base Study : Land use: Citing the ballot initiative next year that seeks to block an airport, four lawmakers ask that the money be held back until that issue is settled.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and three members of Orange County’s congressional delegation have asked the Defense Department to delay sending a $1-million grant to the county to study the future use of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In letters to the Pentagon, Boxer and Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) suggest the money be held back until Orange County voters decide March 26 on an initiative aimed at blocking development of a commercial airport at the base, which is set for closure.

If the Defense Department agrees, it would further frustrate the county’s efforts to plan a redesign of the 4,700-acre site.

But interim John Wayne Airport Director O. B. Schooley said Thursday that planning would move forward anyway under a $900,000 grant already received from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The letter-writing campaign to Defense Department Assistant Secretary Joshua Gotbaum was requested by Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, the group behind the March 26 initiative. The coalition also has a lawsuit to overturn Measure A, an initiative approved last year by a bare majority of voters in support of a commercial airport at El Toro.

A delegation representing the citizens group was in Washington this week, lobbying federal officials to hold off on further planning until next spring.

The federal government shutdown forced postponement of a meeting with the Pentagon’s Office of Economic Adjustment, which is reviewing the county’s grant application. But the group apparently convinced the senator and congressmen of their argument that paying for a study now “is fiscally irresponsible in light of our lawsuit and pending election,” said Bill Kogerman, one of the coalition’s co-chairmen.

The letter by the congressmen, which was drafted by Cox, states: “Investing such significant taxpayer funds in a study based solely on the current [county] General Plan, when that plan may be significantly amended in the very near future, would be an imprudent and unwise use of taxpayer resources.” Boxer’s letter made a similar argument: “In this difficult time of fiscal restraints, we should wait until after the election and not risk wasting taxpayer funds.”

There is a subtle but important difference between the two letters. The congressmen ask the Pentagon to “make the full grant award immediately, but available for use” after the election. Boxer asks that all action on the grant application be deferred until after March 26.

Schooley said Thursday that if the Office of Economic Adjustment changes course and delays payment, the county will go ahead with the work using local and FAA funds so that it can finish by the “must meet” deadline of December, 1996.

“It’s not a question of whether [the federal government] will fund the county; it’s a question of when,” Schooley said.