Board Close to Vote on El Toro

Poised to take a critical step toward reshaping Orange County’s future, a divided Board of Supervisors neared a vote late Tuesday on whether to proceed with a bitterly disputed plan to put an international airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Supervisors endured more than 10 hours of often emotional debate that saw growth-minded business leaders square off against homeowners fearful of losing their quality of life.

The expected swing vote, board Chairman Roger R. Stanton, hinted earlier in the day that he might vote to approve a controversial environmental impact report on the project to keep the planning process alive. He had previously expressed concerns over the airport’s impact on South County neighborhoods.

“This is not a final decision, but it’s a directive for further analysis,” Stanton said at the hearing that drew about 700 people from throughout the county. “Any action today is subject to modification.”

Going into the meeting, it appeared Supervisors Jim Silva and William G. Steiner were lined up behind the airport while Supervisor Don Saltarelli indicated his reservations and Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson had stated his vehement opposition.

As far back as the 1960s, visionaries toyed with the idea of someday converting the 4,700-acre military base into a commercial service. The base was built during World War II and some of the county’s most renowned planned communities later grew up around it.

But few believed it possible until the military decided in 1993 to close the base as a cost-saving measure.

While a final decision on a base reuse plan is still years away, the board’s anticipated action would put the county on track to develop an airport that could forever change the landscape and, according to airport supporters, redefine Orange County in the 21st century by making it an international gateway.

Driving the airport plan is Measure A, a ballot initiative Orange County voters narrowly passed in 1994 that changed the county’s master plan and calls for developing an airport unless it is deemed infeasible. The measure was upheld in another vote earlier this year.

The reuse of El Toro has been one of the most volatile and divisive issues in county history, pitting North County residents who support it as a way to boost the local economy and create jobs against South County residents who live near the base and fear an airport’s impact on noise, traffic, pollution and safety.

The same geographical divide was evident among board members at the outset of the meeting. Newly appointed board member Wilson stated his staunch opposition to an airport and requested more time to examine the impact one would have on his South County constituents.

“There is no amount of testimony given today, tonight or tomorrow that’s going to make me vote yes,” Wilson said before seeking a 120-day delay. “This would allow all of us, both proponents and opponents, to bring closure to a variety of very troublesome issues.”

Wilson’s motion was joined by Saltarelli, the only other board member representing South County, but was met with a brusque response from Silva, who rolled his eyes and wondered aloud that why the county should further study an issue on which Wilson has already made up his mind: “That’s not a lot you can hang your hat on,” Silva said.

The request for a delay then was rejected by a 3-2 vote.

More than 30 elected officials spoke before the supervisors, followed by groups organized in favor or against an El Toro airport.

“I can’t believe from the bottom of my heart we can make a decision when here are this many questions unanswered,” said airport foe and Supervisor-elect Todd Spitzer

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), noting that voters have twice approved countywide ballot measures favoring an airport, advised supervisors, said, “It’s time we follow the will of the voters.”

In the weeks leading up to the critical vote, supervisors were besieged by thousands of faxes, phone calls and intense lobbying by both sides.

Among the partisans were businesses that rely on tourism, including Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farms, and people who envision an airport giving the county a bigger role on the world stage.

“The future of the Orange County economy must include international trade, and that means an international airport,” Chapman University President James Doti told supervisors.

Developer George Argyros, who bankrolled the two pro-airport ballot campaigns, said, “I really believe this is a one-chance-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

On the other side of the business spectrum, the Orange County Business Coalition, a newly-formed group representing employees living near El Toro, fought to defeat the plan.

“Make this a showcase for enlightened reuse planning,” said coalition spokesman and Irvine businessman Peter Craig.

Bert Hack, a co-chairman of Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, said that approving an airport may have a devastating effect on business because many South County residents could boycott North County businesses to make their point.

City leaders also joined in the lobbying and squabbling.

Irvine, Lake Forest and Laguna Niguel sent elected officials to supervisors to argue that an airport would destroy South County.

Laguna Hills Councilwoman Melody Carruth told supervisors an airport would “Manhattanize” the county and likened airport supporters to the greedy farmer who killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.

“Our golden goose is that quality of life,” Carruth said.

Taking a more militant stance, in Irvine on Tuesday night, the City Council unanimously voted to file a lawsuit against the county if supervisors approved the environmental impact report. Mayor Christina L. Shea said the suit would challenge the validity of the report, which city officials say glosses over the impact on noise, traffic and property values.

But Newport Beach officials, who see an El Toro airport as a benefit, said opponents’ fears are overblown.

Councilman Thomas C. Edwards reminded Stanton when he appeared before the board 12 years ago to fight a proposed expansion of John Wayne Airport, using many of the same arguments.

“I was wrong,” Edwards said. “The intense noise, traffic and air pollution we feared never materialized.”

In recent months, the debate has centered on the county’s massive environmental report that portrays an airport as the best reuse for the base, one that could easily employ existing runways and other structures and eventually pump nearly $10 billion a year into the local economy.

Much of the controversy surrounds the way the document was prepared, which preliminarily studied three base reuse options, but deferred a more detailed analysis until after supervisors chose a reuse plan.

Opponents have ridiculed the environmental report as barely disguised airport propaganda, saying the report downplays the 80,009 pounds of pollutants an airport and surrounding traffic would cough up each day, and understates the effects of noise and traffic.

Defenders of the environmental document have insisted follow-up studies would explore the issues more completely.

Tuesday’s board meeting--and what is likely to be legal wrangling for years to come--illustrated there is little hope of crafting a reuse plan that will be agreed upon by all of the county.

At the start of the meeting, Stanton expressed the sentiments of many when he looked out into the crowded board chambers, sighed and said, “The Marines should have stayed.”

Times correspondent Lori Haycox contributed to this report.

SOUNDING OFF: Both sides get their say on the effects an airport will have on the county. A16

REUSE OPTIONS: Three ways of recycling the Marine base were considered in environmental report. A16

COMING UP: Several other steps must occur before a final call on El Toro proposal is made. A16

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Options at El Toro

A 42-volume environmental impact report and project plan studied three ways to recycle El Toro Marine Corps Air Station when the military retires the base by mid-1999. Options center on a main project--a commercial-cargo airport, a cargo-general aviation airport or a mix of business, residential and recreational areas--surrounded by compatible uses, including a golf course, wildlife preserve and transportation center.

Source: Orange County’s El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Community Reuse Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report