Chair of El Toro Panel on Hot Seat Over Relocation

The outgoing chair of an influential committee backing a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station plans to move from Orange County by year’s end, prompting some critics to question Wednesday whether he should be guiding base conversion plans.

Attorney Gary Proctor said he will resign from the El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission when he moves. Until then, he sees no problem with lending his aviation expertise to the base-reuse planning process, especially since he plans to maintain a local part-time residence.

“I still live and work in Orange County, and I’ll continue to be in Orange County,” said Proctor, an experienced pilot and John Wayne Airport commissioner who supports a commercial airport at El Toro. “I got involved because of my high level of expertise, and the fact that I might not be living in Orange County full time doesn’t minimize that.”

But many disagreed, including Alan Ellstrand, a spokesman for Project ‘99, a group fighting an airport at El Toro because of concerns about noise, traffic, pollution and safety.

“The people of Orange County deserve to have representatives who are full-time residents who will live here and share in the consequences of the outcome,” Ellstrand said. “As a citizen here, I certainly would like to be represented by people who have as much of a stake in the county as I do.”

The El Toro commission recommended that the Orange County Board of Supervisors endorse plans to develop a commercial airport serving up to 25 million passengers annually when the 4,700-acre military base is retired in mid-1999. Supervisors voted in December to do so.

Proctor, a prominent defense attorney, said he decided late last year to move to Santa Clara County to supervise his expanding legal practice. He said he will continue his local practice and divide his time between the two counties.

Others in South County--the heart of opposition to a commercial airport at El Toro--said they are not opposed to Proctor’s continued service on the panel and called his aviation background beneficial to both sides of the debate.

“As long as he is an Orange County resident, I think that would be appropriate,” said Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea. “Once he moves, though, he has to resign.”