County’s El Toro Actions Deemed Legal

The county is complying with federal and state planning laws in its effort to convert the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport, according to an Orange County Grand Jury report to be released this morning.

The report, which took eight months to prepare, looked narrowly at the county’s process for planning the base but was not meant to judge the merits of placing an international airport at El Toro.

The finding represents a boost to county planners but isn’t expected to quell criticism from anti-airport activists who believe the process ignores their concerns.

The county has been developing plans for an El Toro airport for five years. One proposal endorsed by the Board of Supervisors last month calls for an airport that by 2020 would serve 25 million passengers a year--roughly three times as many as John Wayne Airport. The board is scheduled to take a final vote on the airport in the fall of 1999.

Critics have complained that the Board of Supervisors is deciding the issue rather than officials from the communities around the base that are most closely affected by the outcome.

But the grand jury found that the county is following the complex assortment of federal base-closure regulations. It also found the county was largely in compliance with state planning guidelines.

The report, however, noted that a San Diego judge last year did find that several sections of the county’s El Toro environmental impact report did not adequately address possible problems associated with the development. The county is rewriting those sections.

The grand jury said the environmental impact report failed to fully examine potential uses for land surrounding the proposed airport.

The grand jury also found a small flaw in the Millennium Plan, the South County alternative proposal to build offices, homes, parks--but no airport--at the base. The panel said the Millennium Plan doesn’t fully comply with federal rules requiring that the needs of the homeless be considered as part of base reuse plans.