Foes of El Toro Airport Get Planning Role

By LORENZA MUNOZ and SHELBY GRAD

Oct. 8, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

SANTA ANA —

A divided Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to allow airport opponents to oversee planning for non-aviation uses of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, giving South County cities a formal say in the base-conversion process for the first time.

The decision was hailed by airport opponents as good news delivered late in a process that began three years ago.

“They should have done that from the very beginning,” said Debbie Abalos, a Laguna Hills resident who has been an outspoken opponent of plans to convert the base into a commercial airport. “If they had done that from the beginning, I don’t think this process would have been so long and drawn out.”

Board of Supervisors Chairman William G. Steiner announced Monday that he would change his stance and add his swing vote to the proposal long favored by Supervisors Thomas W. Wilson and Todd Spitzer, who represent the South County communities most opposed to using the base as a new commercial airport. The measure passed Tuesday by a 3-2 vote over the opposition of Supervisors Charles V. Smith and Jim Silva, ardent airport supporters.

Steiner said he changed his position because he believes the county would benefit from having South County cities complete the non-aviation study. It spares the county the cost of doing its own plan, which probably would be repudiated by South County leaders anyway, he said.

“This gives us a chance to put aside some of the contentious north-south issues,” said Steiner, who still supports converting El Toro into an airport. “I hope this tones down some of the rhetoric.”

The resolution calls for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA)--made up of the cities of Irvine, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano--to develop the county’s non-aviation plan without imposing any requirement that it drop its lawsuit against the county, as the supervisors had decided in August.

Tuesday’s vote was a sweet victory for airport opponents, since they have been on the losing end of virtually every court decision involving the base-conversion process, as well as two countywide ballot initiatives.

“We are ecstatic,” said Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea. “This is really a very responsible approach to governing. Now the county at large will have other alternatives.”

While Abalos agreed that “it’s good news,” she said opponents still “have a big fight on our hands. I think they’re just doing this to pacify people. Their minds are already made up that they want an airport there.”

Smith and Silva remain opposed to including the South County cities group.

“The voters of Orange County voted twice on this . . . and directed [the county] to plan for a commercial airport,” Smith said, referring to Measure A and Measure S, two initiatives on El Toro in which voters supported an airport.

Smith noted that while the South County cities will pay for the $1-million study into non-aviation uses, the county will have to spend at least $750,000 to incorporate their work into the overall airport plan.

The non-aviation study will serve as a backup document in case a “fatal flaw” is found in the airport plan.

Such flaws might include air space incompatibility, lack of interest by airlines in another airport or costs that are too high to support air service. Neither county officials nor the Federal Aviation Administration have given any indication of finding any such flaws so far.

The board could eventually decide to go with a non-aviation use even if no fatal flaw is found. But voters would first have to amend the county’s General Plan, which under Measure A reserves the El Toro land for an airport.

Although ETRPA board members say they will complete the non-aviation plan by the county’s April 3 deadline, much work lies ahead of them, and the pressure is on.

The ETRPA has hired former Inglewood City Manager Paul D. Eckles as executive director and contracted with a public relations firm and five consulting firms to plan the non-aviation report.

The board is now selecting citizen advisory subcommittees to brainstorm ideas for the 4,700-acre property.

Specific plans have not been drawn, officials said, but some general ideas have been advanced for such facilities as a regional park, an entertainment center and a sports facility.

Richard T. Dixon, a Lake Forest councilman and ETRPA chairman, said the county can expect a very detailed plan.

“Our alternative plan will provide jobs well into the 21st century . . . along with minimal impacts to the environment,” he said. “If anything has been won here today, it is in restoring the [public’s] faith in the planning process.”

Still, some opponents, like Harry Dotson, Stanton mayor and a member of the Orange County Regional Airport Authority, or OCRA, a coalition of nine cities that favor an El Toro airport, expressed outrage over the resolution.

“ETRPA has had three years [to plan non-aviation use] and they have very little or nothing to show for their effort,” said Dotson. “We are still opposed to the county delegating any authority to ETRPA.”

But to the surprise of airport foes like Dixon, other airport supporters said they agreed with the resolution.

“I think supervisor Wilson is on the right track,” said Newport Beach Councilman and OCRA board member Tom Edwards. Edwards said that he was concerned about some issues but that “this may be the correct alternative at this time.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Players in the Plan

Here are the major participants who will be involved in assembling the official non-aviation plan for the reuse of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. El Toro is scheduled to revert to the county from the federal government in 1999:

* Paul D. Eckles, former Inglewood city manager, executive director of El Toro Reuse Planning Authority. He retired from Inglewood in April and will oversee the development of the non-aviation plan.

* Stoorza, Ziegaus & Metzger

Home: San Diego

Function: Public and governmental affairs

* Waters & Faubel

Home: Newport Beach

Function: Outreach with local residents

* Cotton/Beland and Associates

Home: Pasadena

Function: Land-use planning

* The Concord Group

Home: Newport Beach

Function: Economic development