El Toro Planning Enters ‘Phase Two’

Promising a far more detailed analysis than anything presented before, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Friday laid out the framework for “phase two” of the planning process that will ultimately determine a new use for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In what opponents of a commercial airport at El Toro labeled a minor concession, the county also promised to “vigorously explore” non-aviation alternatives, such as university campuses and stadiums, among a host of other possibilities.

“We will be doing a great deal more analysis,” vowed Courtney Wiercioch, the county’s assistant chief executive officer for public affairs. “For people, who, in the last round, raised questions about our level of detail, that’s our intention in the next round--to be much more specific and detailed in our analysis.”

For citizens disappointed at not hearing an “intersection-by-intersection” analysis of how individual neighborhoods would be affected by the construction of a major airport, Wiercioch said phase two will try to accommodate “that level of detail.”

Lake Forest Councilman Richard T. Dixon, chairman of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority and an outspoken airport opponent, voiced “cautious optimism” over Friday’s news.

“They used the word ‘vigorous,’ ” Dixon said, referring to the county’s promise to pursue non-aviation alternatives. “I tend to think our definition of vigorous is probably a lot different from their definition of vigorous.”

He added, “I hope they truly intend looking at alternative uses in extreme detail, but it isn’t going to keep us from continuing to do the same. I’d have to say I have cautious optimism . . . but it’s extremely cautious, because I’ve dealt with the county before.”

Wiercioch said the county staff will organize into “planning teams, using outside consultants to become much more focused” in the next round--which has a deadline for presenting to the board a specific plan, a master plan and a final environmental impact report by “the fall or winter of 1999.”