Supervisors Given Sole Authority for El Toro Decisions

Gov. Pete Wilson signed a measure Tuesday recognizing the Orange County Board of Supervisors as the sole authority for land-use decisions when the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station shuts down at decade’s end.

The bill by Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) eliminates a state-sanctioned base reuse group that included representatives from Irvine and Lake Forest, where residents are concerned about the possibility of a commercial airport being developed at the site.

That now-defunct group, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, had been recognized by the state since August 1994.

However, it lost most of its clout soon after it was formed. In November 1994, county voters approved Measure A, which made the Board of Supervisors the arbiter of base reuse. In July 1995, the U.S. Department of Defense made the authority virtually meaningless by also recognizing the supervisors as the stewards of base reuse.

To rectify the inconsistency, Pringle sponsored the bill to remove the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority from state books as the designated reuse authority.

The base, which is being considered as a possible site for a commercial airport, is almost entirely in unincorporated county territory, but falls under Irvine’s sphere of influence for land-use planning. The old reuse authority consisted of one council member from Lake Forest, three from Irvine and the five supervisors.

Pringle’s bill (AB37) was approved 66 to 4 by the Assembly in January. In the Senate, the only lawmaker to vote against it was state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange), whose district includes portions of some cities that would suffer increased aircraft noise and traffic congestion if a commercial airport was built at El Toro.