Smith Ready to Give Up Reins on Airport Effort

Increasingly frustrated by setbacks in airport planning, Charles V. Smith, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said Friday that he would turn over efforts to build an airfield at the closed El Toro Marine base to a separate government agency--if that is what it takes to get it built.

Smith, who leads the board’s pro-airport majority, said that among the frustrating setbacks was the county’s failure last week to extend a special state exemption that would make it easier for the board to approve cargo and airline leases.

“I don’t care whether it’s the Board of Supervisors or a joint powers authority or leasing it to a private company, I just want to be sure that the process is properly done and the airport gets built,” Smith said.

“We have a mandate to build an airport,” he said, referring to the countywide vote in 1994 approving an airport at El Toro. “It’s not important whether the board builds it or it gets built some other way with the board’s participation.”