Pro-Airport Group Adds Supervisors

In a move critics say is aimed at foiling efforts to kill the proposed El Toro airport, Orange County supervisors agreed Tuesday to join a 15-city coalition that is promoting plans for the new airfield.

Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to negotiate with the Orange County Regional Airport Authority to add the county as a voting member and to give the group as much as $400,000 for promotions, more than doubling the agency’s existing budget.

Joining the authority, a joint-powers agency created in 1983 to build a second airport, could allow the county to transfer to the authority all the duties for planning, building and operating El Toro--and even for operating John Wayne Airport.

Such a transfer also could remove the project from the scope of a March ballot initiative that South County airport foes are pushing as a way to halt the El Toro project.

Supervisor Tom Wilson, who opposes El Toro plans, said the move by pro-airport supervisors “borders on an abdication of responsibility by the board.”

“Has support for El Toro eroded to the point that the county, as big as it is, must use its resources to purchase allies?” Wilson said, referring to the proposed funding.

Fellow anti-airport Supervisor Todd Spitzer agreed, saying there is “a movement afoot” to transfer control of El Toro planning to a joint-powers agency, which is a partnership of public entities.

The regional authority is a pro-airport coalition comprising the larger North County cities such as Anaheim and Garden Grove, as well as Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Buena Park and Tustin.

But the board’s chairman, Supervisor Charles V. Smith, said the county remains in charge of airport planning and will decide the base’s ultimate reuse. Turning over responsibility to another governmental entity would require approval by a majority of the board. Final approval for the airport is expected in May.

Smith said he and Supervisor Jim Silva proposed joining the authority because cities should have more say in plans for construction of a commercial airport at the closed 4,700-acre Marine Corps air base. Supervisors have chosen a preliminary design to accommodate 28.8 million passengers a year.

“[The authority] is open to all cities in the county, and we would be remiss if we didn’t involve them,” Smith said. “The invitation to South County is still open and remains open to sit down and involve themselves in the planning process.”

The action Tuesday also signaled growing frustration over planning for the airport, which has lagged behind the county’s rosy predictions for its progress.

Some pro-airport forces have grumbled privately about a series of delays and the inability of the county’s El Toro planning staff to resolve them, from starting interim cargo flights to getting the necessary approvals to serve alcohol at the officer’s club.

Pro-airport supervisors would not be trying to join another government agency if they were confident about El Toro’s progress, Spitzer said at the board meeting.

“It’s clear the board majority has lost all confidence in county staff, including the CEO [County Executive Officer Janice Mittermeier], to build El Toro,” he said.

Mittermeier, formerly director of John Wayne Airport, acknowledged to the board that she wasn’t aware of the proposal to join the regional airport authority until after Smith placed it on the agenda.

But she disagreed with Spitzer’s suggestion that the pro-airport majority “circumvented” her. And Smith said Spitzer and Wilson were wrong in speculating that the county was preparing to turn over planning for the base.

“I think you’re assuming facts not in evidence,” Smith told them. “We need to make [the authority] part of the planning process so it’s not the county out there by itself fighting this battle.”

The debate bared the continued acrimony over plans for El Toro, rezoned for an airport in 1994 by voters. Later in Tuesday’s board meeting, Spitzer and Wilson protested additional funding for airport consultants through June 30.

At one point, a clearly frustrated Wilson chastised Silva for his willingness to give $400,000 to pro-airport forces while voting against minor sums for community grants. He also questioned the propriety of Smith’s upcoming fund-raiser hosted by wealthy businessman George Argyros, the primary private source of funds for promoting El Toro.

“This is just another in-your-face effort to push this airport at any cost,” Wilson said.

The idea of an outside entity taking over construction of El Toro was raised in recent weeks as a way of getting around possible voter approval of a March initiative that would require a two-thirds public vote to allow the county to build or expand airports, large jails near homes and hazardous-waste landfills.

South County supporters of the proposed Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative noted that it includes a provision barring the county from turning over the airport’s fate to an outside entity.

Other airports in Southern California have been built and operated by joint-powers authorities, including Burbank Airport, which is run by the cities of Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena.

The decision to join the Orange County airport authority will be brought back to the board for a final vote next month. County attorneys will negotiate with the authority over its membership and an agreement for how the $400,000 will be spent.

The authority was formed in 1983 by North County cities that wanted to stop the threat of an airport being built in Chino Hills. Its original operating agreement, calling for the construction and operation of a second county airport, was amended earlier this year to include a more general mission statement promoting El Toro.

Peggy Ducey, the authority’s executive director, said she anticipated no problems with the county joining the group. The first step, she said, is using the county contribution to better distribute information on the benefits of the proposed airport. South County foes recently budgeted as much as $4 million on anti-airport messages.

“This is an example of better partnering with the county,” she said. “We’re looking at it from a good public-policy perspective.”