Revised Plan for Airport at El Toro Base to Be Heard

Trying to reduce the impact of the huge airport-business complex planned for El Toro, Orange County officials are expected to unveil a new design today that removes much of the surrounding commercial development and adds more open space.

The sudden change marks another attempt by officials to craft a politically acceptable project even as airport opponents in South County continue to aggressively attack the county’s proposal.

Several sources said Wednesday that the changes were prompted, in part, by residents voicing fears at recent community meetings that the proposed hotels, office buildings and other developments would cause heavy traffic congestion.

The plan endorsed by the Board of Supervisors in April calls for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to be converted into an international airport surrounded by a so-called town square, consisting of hotels, office complexes, restaurants, movie theaters, a cultural center and a museum. It also includes an International Trade Complex and a Hillside Technology Park.

Airport backers hailed the original plan for creating a “mini-city” that would take advantage of the economic growth that major commercial airports usually bring to surrounding communities.

The technology park and the trade complex were considered particularly important in the county’s effort to increase world trade and lure more high-technology companies.

But the modified design--dubbed by backers as “the green plan”--converts much of that commercial development into parkland, golf courses and other types of open space, sources said.

Officials are expected to reveal today how much of the 4,700-acre base would remain open under the latest plan. But some of the developments originally envisioned for the site could be built on vacant land just outside the base.

Supervisors take a final vote on the airport in December 1999. Meantime, El Toro opponents are planning a countywide referendum next year on the airport, the third such vote on the contentious issue.

The strongest reaction Wednesday came from Supervisor Tom Wilson, an El Toro airport foe who had not been informed of any details ahead of time.

“Caught by surprise is probably an understatement,” he said. “There should have been full briefings to the board way in advance. They are springing this on us and saying they are changing [the plans] midstream. It is totally inappropriate.”

Paul Eckles, director of the anti-airport group El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, viewed the new design as “further evidence that their whole planning process is in trouble.”

Airport supporters said they would not comment until they reviewed the plan. But some were surprised by the move because, as Newport Beach Mayor Thomas C. Edwards said, county planners have been “touting” the town square, or mini-city, complex idea.

El Toro opponents, who fear an airport will generate excessive noise and pollution, have proposed their own non-aviation plan that includes homes, offices, a football stadium, a university and a cultural center at the base. The so-called Millennium Plan includes far more open space than the original airport proposal, including an expansive “central park.”

However, the Millennium Plan would generate more traffic--roughly 324,000 car trips per day by 2020 compared to 276,000 under the airport proposal. The county’s new plan is expected to reduce the number of daily trips further.

Backers hope the added open space will blunt criticism of the airport plan and free up more base land for public uses not related to the airport.

Under the county’s plan, El Toro would handle 25 million passengers per year by 2020. A people-mover system would link the El Toro airport with John Wayne Airport, which now handles about 7.7 million passengers per year.

The proposed El Toro airport is much smaller than the county’s early concepts, which called for a facility handling as many as 36 million passengers per year. The size was reduced in an effort to gain public support.