Board Abruptly Cuts El Toro Airport Plan

Three Orange County supervisors who have been guiding plans for a large commercial airport at El Toro abruptly agreed Tuesday that they would vote for a much smaller facility--one that would handle a third fewer passengers.

The unexpected announcement by the pro-airport majority on the Board of Supervisors followed statements by Supervisor Cynthia Coad that an airport serving 18 million passengers a year--instead of 29 million--at the former Marine Corps Air Station is big enough.

“A future Board of Supervisors, and a future Orange County community, [would] determine whether and when additional aviation facilities and capacity are needed and built,” Coad said during a meeting of the board, sitting as the planning body designated by the Navy to determine the future of the base.

The smaller airport was endorsed immediately by board Chairman Charles V. Smith and Supervisor Jim Silva, the remainder of the 3-2 majority that has approved airport planning so far.

“It’s in keeping with the existing plan,” Smith said. “We’d be building it in phases anyway.”

Even though the board won’t vote on the final project until May, the three supervisors said they are prepared to recast the scope of the airport, and called on South County airport foes to embrace the smaller design.

The aim was to shoot through the carefully crafted image of airport opponents, who have injected increasing doubt over the project’s future. The swift board support for a smaller airport was intended to galvanize public sentiment for the county’s vision by painting its naysayers as unreasonable.

“The people of Orange County will support a reasonable-sized airport at El Toro because they understand that additional airport capacity is needed, and El Toro is a logical site,” said Bruce Nestande, chairman of Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, an El Toro airfield booster group.

But opponents dismissed the proposal as an empty promise for a region that doesn’t want an airport of any size.

“Unfortunately, they still haven’t figured out that you can’t be a little bit pregnant,” said Paul Eckles, executive director of an eight-city South County coalition fighting El Toro.

The two supervisors opposing the El Toro airport--Tom Wilson and Todd Spitzer--didn’t respond to Coad’s comments.

Airport supporters said the new approach better handles the county’s need for more airport capacity without unduly burdening those living near the former Marine base.

A smaller El Toro could mean a larger John Wayne Airport than envisioned, but “we need to share the burden,” said consultant David Ellis of the Airport Working Group, which has fought for 20 years to limit the size of John Wayne Airport. About 7.5 million travelers a year now use John Wayne Airport.

In her comments, Coad said her backing of the proposal hinged on whether the leadership in South County stepped forward to begin working with the county on blunting the impact of an El Toro airport, instead of standing outside the process and refusing to consider any airport plan.

“If they will not stand up for their own constituents in shaping the development of this airport, I cannot do it for them,” she said.

But Coad said after the meeting, in comments echoed by Smith and Silva, that she would move ahead with the smaller airport regardless of the support it receives from South County.