Key Official Leaves El Toro for LAX

Uncertainty over the future of commercial flights at the El Toro Marine base has prompted a key member of the county’s base-management consulting team to resign, effective today.

He is retired Marine Col. Jim Ritchie, who has been in charge of base management for Cabaco Inc., which was hired by the county to catalog the assets of the base.

Ritchie said he was frustrated by delays in the start of cargo flights and other aviation uses at the base. He said his new job as general manager of Mercury Air Group at Los Angeles International Airport will provide “more growth potential.”

Cargo operations were scheduled to begin at El Toro as soon as the Marines leave July 2. But the Navy Department, which has command over the Marines, has held up approval pending an environmental review.

Ritchie said he did not think cargo flights will begin “any time in the near future.”

There also is no agreement on a master lease with the Navy for the airfield between July 2 and when the property is deeded to the county. It could be three years before the transfer is made, he said.

“This is a tough political environment,” Ritchie said of the controversy over whether to convert the base into an international airport, a plan that has the backing of a majority of the county Board of Supervisors but has drawn loud objections from residents and officials of South Orange County cities. “If I could have turned this into a robust, income-generating piece of property, that’s where the action is.”

The county announced Thursday that the state Lands Commission has postponed until August consideration of whether to allow the transfer of police powers at the base from the military to the Sheriff’s Department. Antiairport forces have argued that such a transfer should not be done until the proposal has final federal approval.

Charles V. Smith, the Board of Supervisors chairman and leader of the pro-airport majority, said he understands Ritchie’s frustrations.

Smith praised Ritchie for staying on until the supervisors approved a temporary lease for the base’s nonaviation facilities. That lease, approved unanimously Tuesday, allows for uninterrupted use of the golf course, stables, child-care center, pool and recreational vehicle storage facilities.

He said Ritchie’s departure will not create any further delays. Ritchie, who was paid $110,000 a year, will be succeeded by Cliff Wallace, a retired Marine who has worked with Ritchie since 1992.

But Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposes the airport, said the departure raises questions about the county’s payment of $2.6 million to Cabaco.

“I give Ritchie credit for doing a reality check about the future of El Toro,” Spitzer said. “What I want to know is, What captain of the ship are they going to use to save this Titanic?”