O.C. Supervisors Back Plan for El Toro Airport

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday endorsed building an international airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station but insisted on key concessions to appease vociferous opponents.

A base reuse proposal will now be sent to the Department of the Navy by year’s end. The vote also launches another environmental impact study and master planning study, and it is likely to be as long as two years before the supervisors can make a final decision on how the base will be reused.

Newly appointed Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson cast the lone vote against the airport and an accompanying environmental impact report, which he said failed to answer troubling questions about how a new airport would affect his constituents in southern Orange County who live near the base and under projected flight paths.

Wilson’s four colleagues said the 4-1 vote merely moves forward the conceptual plan for an international airport. But they agreed to dramatically scale back the proposal that initially envisioned an airport serving up to 38.3 million passengers a year, challenging Los Angeles International Airport for overseas travelers and cargo shipments.

Future studies should examine limiting airport service to between 10 million and 25 million passengers annually, supervisors said. The proposed airport would go on the 4,700-acre military base, surrounded by businesses, a golf course and a nature reserve.

“This will still be a bitter pill for south county,” acknowledged Supervisor William G. Steiner, whose district includes Disneyland and other tourist destinations that lobbied hard for an airport. “But this is a significant downsizing of the scenario for the reuse of El Toro.”

Built during World War II, the military base has been declared surplus and will be abandoned in 1999.

Supervisors promised to seek other key concessions as the planning process continues, including:

* A study of non-aviation uses for the base, such as a university campus, athletic stadium or ball field, in case future studies conclude an airport is not workable at El Toro.

* A potential ban on night flights and exceptionally noisy aircraft at an El Toro airport.

* Urging test flights of commercial aircraft in and out of El Toro to allow residents to assess a commercial airport’s potential noise.

* Banning takeoffs from existing runways leading west over Irvine, a planned community that has been at the front of the fight against the airport.

Lake Forest Councilwoman Helen Wilson, whose city borders the base, said she was devastated when the supervisors certified the environmental impact report, which opponents said was flawed and failed to fully consider an airport’s negative effects on noise, traffic, pollution, safety and home values.

“But I’m pleased to see they did make concessions to consider aviation alternatives,” Wilson said. “There’s still a level of distrust that south county residents have about the county. We want to make sure what they say is what they do and not just lip service.”

Others flatly accused the county of trying to hoodwink the public by pretending to be studying non-aviation options in order to shift attention from the airport proposal.

“This shows that the board hasn’t been listening to anything we’ve been saying for all these years,” Irvine resident David Jayburn said. “They’re going ahead with an airport and the rest is just window dressing.”

Business leaders and elected officials in the northern part of the county hailed the board vote, saying the airport will boost the economy, bringing with it thousands of jobs. An airport is also the easiest way to convert existing runways, they argue.

George Argyros, a wealthy Newport Beach developer who played a key role in the political drive to convert the Marine base into a commercial airport, said the facility could be used for cargo flights as soon as the Marines leave.

“That won’t be much of a problem as they start to vacate the base,” Argyros said.

The airport is the most contentious issue in Orange County today. A hearing that began Tuesday afternoon and ended 12 hours later drew more than 700 people, many of whom had to mill about the halls or find a place in two overflow seating rooms.

The meeting--the longest in board history--dragged on until after 1 a.m., when weary board members adjourned until 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The reuse of the base has sharply divided opponents, who mostly live near the base, and proponents, who have twice carried elections calling for the base to be reused as a commercial airport.

Efforts by supervisors and others have failed to reach a compromise. South county residents say they would rather fight the issue in court than negotiate for any aviation use at the military base.

Times staff writers Shelby Grad and H. G. Reza contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

El Toro’s Flight Plan

The Orange County Board of Supervisors endorsed plans to build a second international airport, at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The base is scheduled to be retired by the military in 1999.

A COMPARISON

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NEW EL TORO JOHN WAYNE Maximum passengers per year 38.3 million 7.2 million Cargo per year 1.64 million tons 14,000 tons Average number of flights per hour 50 18 Longest runway 10,000 feet 5,700 feet

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Source: Airport Development Report; John Wayne figures are for 1995