El Toro Options and Alternatives

* Recently, the pro-airport Orange County Regional Airport Authority released misleading information regarding the economic feasibility of the Millennium Plan, which is the non-aviation alternative for El Toro.

The economic premise of the Millennium Plan is based on the same factors as the county’s airport plan.

The Base Reuse and Closure Act stipulates that property used for economic development and public benefit can be conveyed below market rate or at no cost. Portions of the Millennium Plan such as the open space, parks and potentially the stadium and convention center can be conveyed under these provisions, just as the county hopes to have the entire property for the proposed airport conveyed at no cost.

The uses presented in the Millennium Plan were based on significant market and financial feasibility research conducted by numerous organizations including Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young and the Concord Group.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority has identified specific types of end-users, and has based the plan on development scenarios that have been done before in Orange County. By all measures, commercial, residential, sports and cultural development will remain strong and profitable well into the next century.

The stadium and convention center will not be built with taxpayer dollars. If it cannot be built without taxpayer dollars then the approximately 100 acres will be used for some other purpose. Irvine officials are in negotiation with the National Football League and financial backers who propose to fund the development of a stadium provided an NFL expansion team is located in Irvine.

Financing development projects is an incredibly complicated process, and because of the complexity can be easily misrepresented.

The simple answer is that the Millennium Plan will pay for itself over time. There will be revenue bonds generated in the early stages that are guaranteed by either private backers or future revenues for development on the site. This is exactly how John Wayne Airport is financed, and how the county reports it would finance the construction of an airport at El Toro.

RICHARD DIXON

Chairman

El Toro Reuse Planning Authority

* The hysteria displayed by some South County people is unbelievable!

[They claim] their lifestyle will be destroyed. Real estate values will plummet. Children’s health will suffer. Schoolchildren will be unable to concentrate. No one will be able to sleep at night. There will be an aircraft over their homes every minute, 24 hours a day.

One would be led to believe that there are no sane people in South County, which I am sure is far from true.

I have lived within one mile of John Wayne Airport, directly in the takeoff pattern, for some 30 years. I am a retired military and commercial pilot. I have flown in and out of both John Wayne and El Toro airport many times.

Yes, airplanes cause noise, pollution, disruptions, but nowhere near the extent some South County residents would have us believe. Let us look at the facts, remembering that Newport Beach residences do not have a 18,450-acre buffer zone, as does El Toro.

Real estate values in Newport Beach continue to escalate. Residents are upgrading their property. Homes are much in demand. Newport Beach continues to be a most desirable place to live.

There is no evidence that children’s health has suffered, or their ability to learn has been impaired.

The fact remains that John Wayne can never meet the increasing demand for air travel, as some South County residents have suggested. One of the major reasons for the increased demand is created by the growth in South County. Every time they fly out of John Wayne, they fly over my house, yet they are horrified at the thought of me flying over their homes. So much for brotherly love.

LEONARD HALL

Colonel, USAF Ret.

Newport Beach

* Orange County’s government has gotten itself into a real bind. Committed to building a commercial airport at a site unsuited for the purpose, county government wants to spend over $1 billion for a facility fraught with compromises and hazards.

This isn’t news to the county Board of Supervisors. To try to make El Toro somehow function as an international airport in an otherwise well-planned residential and commercial area, the board is considering drastic operational restrictions that the federal government doesn’t like, such as curfews, artificially narrow flight corridors and altered safety rules to force airliners to take off into the mountains.

Because we deserve the best value for our precious tax dollars, constructing an installation that cannot properly function is money wasted.

A commercial airport at El Toro is simply bad regional planning. El Toro is uncomfortably close to the operations at John Wayne. Joint use would pack all air and ground traffic in one small corner of the county. It makes far better sense to spread the impact of two air facilities across a larger area.

If we really need a second airport, and that has yet to be proven, we should select a prime site, one providing flexibility and affording the highest potential usage. Fortunately, we have a better alternative to El Toro right here in Orange County: the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center.

Building a commercial airport at Los Alamitos is the perfect answer to future air passenger and cargo needs. Geographically, it’s ideally situated. The North County location would ensure wide separation from the air and ground traffic at John Wayne. Because Los Alamitos is near the ocean, with no mountains close by, flight operations could be optimized.

Takeoffs could be routed over the open spaces of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, minimizing noise and pollution. The runways are long enough to accommodate the larger aircraft necessary for cross-country and international flights without expensive reconstruction.

GREG SMITH

City councilman

Irvine

* Up to now, the El Toro facility and its use as an enlarged commercial airport has split the county like no other issue. It is my firm belief that there are other options which should be put on the table regarding El Toro.

Just 15 to 20 minutes north on the San Diego Freeway exists the Long Beach Airport, an ideal facility that is terribly underused.

Long Beach would be the perfect facility for all of John Wayne’s private aircraft as well as all of John Wayne’s cargo aircraft. [That] would open John Wayne to increasing its flights without an increase of landings or departures.

The very idea that the El Toro question should be only an Orange County question is selfish and naive. It is time to look at this question on a regional basis, as one does for seaports, railways and highways.

It is also time to remove our heads from the sand, and commence negotiations with Long Beach to find a mutually equitable and economical solution for both.

RICHARD SOLO

Irvine