Leadership Needed on El Toro Site

Autumn has brought a new round of developments to the discussion over the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Last week, the Costa Mesa City Council considered and rejected a proposal aimed at providing something for everyone living along the geographical fault lines. Community activists north and south also were digesting the county’s recently announced plans to provide a greener environment, reduce traffic and assuage the concerns of cities that new development at El Toro might drain off business. The Orange County Business Council released an important study, and Irvine, a pivotal base neighbor, considered an advisory referendum on the non-aviation plan for November.

All this movement on an intractable issue has to be significant. For example, the effort of the county to address the concerns of residents about traffic, and to attempt to avoid setting up a directly competing economic center, will be factors in future debate over the base. The discussion in Costa Mesa was an attempt at least to recognize the concerns of residents in South County about size, and to acknowledge that John Wayne Airport neighbors share their similar concern.

But as encouraging as these efforts to bridge the great divide might be, it also was painfully apparent that many crucial questions about the feasibility of the El Toro airport remain unanswered as the master planning process unfolds. The Marines are scheduled to depart in less than a year, and the public still does not have very good answers on some big concerns.

Foremost now has to be whether a two-airport system will prove viable economically and operationally for the airlines. American Airlines and the Air Transport Assn. have questioned whether it will be cost effective to operate two facilities in Orange County, especially so close together. Meanwhile, it remains an open question whether proposed flight patterns will be acceptable to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Similarly, the preferred existing runway configuration turned up in the latest county plan, even though there are lingering questions about whether this layout will work. From that decision others arise: Which communities will be affected by the final flight patterns? Will existing runways will prove feasible or have to be rebuilt? And if so, at what cost?

Efforts at negotiation and compromise are to be encouraged in a debate that for too long has been contentious. However, leadership on getting some of these unresolved issues addressed still seems largely absent.

Orange County should not back into a final decision a year from now, where it might be necessary to drastically alter what previously had been declared feasible. The sooner the big questions about cost, operation and viability are answered, the better for the entire community.