Millennium Plan Is Off by $1 Billion, Say Airport Backers

The cost to develop El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for residential and commercial use instead of aviation could cost $1 billion more than earlier estimates, a pro-airport group said Wednesday.

The Orange County Regional Airport Authority released the second of three analyses of a South County coalition’s Millennium Plan, which proposes a university, a park, a museum, homes and offices at the 4,700-acre Marine base, slated for closure next year.

Consultants hired by the airport authority concluded that the cost of buying the land from the military would be considerably more than projected earlier.

The Millennium Plan wrongly assumes that building an education and research center with open space would allow the land to be sold at less than market value, an oversight that could raise the sale price by about $191 million, the consultants’ report stated.

“They might be eligible for some discounts, but most of their assumptions are overstated,” consultant Pam Engebretson said.

The consultants also challenged the cost of upgrading the sewage and water systems, building schools and firehouses, and demolishing old buildings. The consultants estimated those costs at $561 million--67% more than the projection in the Millennium Plan.

But Rich Gollis, a consultant on the Millennium Plan, said his team carefully studied the federal guidelines for military base conversions. “All of the conveyances are negotiable,” he said.

Backers of the alternative proposal said they stand by their plan.

“This is not some regional airport authority, it is the city of Newport Beach using that cover to try to puncture holes in the Millennium Plan,” said Paul Eckles, executive director of the anti-airport group El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

The airport authority paid consultants $10,000 for three reports, the first of which was released last month. The final report is scheduled for release in August.