LAFCO Shake-Up Affects Irvine

Irvine’s hopes to annex the El Toro Marine base, and thus prevent an airport from being built there, suffered a minor setback Thursday with a change of membership on the Local Agency Formation Commission.

County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, an airport foe, was removed as a regular member of the commission and made an alternate board member. The agency decides annexation issues.

County Supervisor William G. Steiner, an airport supporter, replaced Spitzer on the seven-member LAFCO board. The changes were made by Jim Silva, who is chairman of both the commission and the county Board of Supervisors. He also is a proponent of the airport plan.

Spitzer will retain full powers to attend meetings and take votes whenever Smith or Steiner are absent. Steiner, who will leave the board at the end of the year, had asked for a seat on LAFCO and as the board’s longest-serving member had seniority. Steiner, who has served on the commission several times over the years, said he wanted one more shot before leaving county government.

Spitzer and Silva could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The Marines are scheduled to depart the 4,700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in July 1999.

In November, the Irvine City Council voted unanimously to seek annexation of the base, which is in county territory. On Tuesday, council members will vote on a plan of action for their annexation bid. They hope to file their application with LAFCO by fall and have their case heard by the board in January 1999.

Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea said she was disappointed by the changes at LAFCO.

“I think there should be balanced representation from the county,” Shea said, noting that the two county representatives are airport supporters. “I think this is completely inappropriate. I will not support Silva in the future because of this move.”

But some airport opponents played down the potential impact, saying that Irvine faces an uphill battle in their bid to annex the property.

“I’m not so sure that this is an overnight doable thing,” said Richard Dixon, chairman of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, the agency in charge of creating a non-aviation plan. “I’m not sure that that will happen in a very timely manner.”

Before the proposal is presented to the agency, Irvine and county officials must draft a joint proposal on how to share property tax revenue to provide for basic services such as police and fire protection.

That probably will lead to a political fight, because the county has a policy against any annexation that would affect “existing or proposed aviation facilities.”

If Irvine’s proposal does reach LAFCO, Dixon said, it is the obligation of all its members to analyze annexation bids objectively, without being tainted by their views on the airport.

“I would hate to think that the airport issue is going to be leaking into every single decision elected officials make,” he said. “The bottom line is that LAFCO is obligated to look at annexations in a fair manner. If Irvine brings forward a good case for annexation, it would be incumbent upon LAFCO to view that in a favorable manner.”

Every January, the new chairman appoints supervisors to dozens of special committees, including LAFCO, the Orange County Transportation Authority and the Orange County Film Commission.

The chairman kept Supervisor Charles V. Smith, a supporter of the El Toro plan, on LAFCO.

Contributing to this report was Times staff writer Shelby Grad.