Future of El Toro Remains Lost in the Clouds

At the former El Toro Marine base, cargo planes should have been flying by now. Environmental hearings on the base’s future should have been held. A new lease at the base should have been signed.

Instead, there are weeds poking through the pavement at El Toro and the county’s planning process for a commercial airport seems to have reached a point of dysfunction.

A year ago, the Marines had packed up and left the base shuttered, with only minimal police operations.

But since then, airport backers have had to endure a succession of bumps and detours in planning, including passage of an anti-airport initiative.

Although the focus has been on the political warring at many levels, some have said that an overall lack of professional planning at the county level is what has left the airport’s future in doubt.

“You can expect obstacles like an initiative, and also some delays and setbacks,” said Bruce Nestande, a former county supervisor and now a pro-airport spokesman. “But the biggest disappointment has been the lack of professionalism in the county process and lack of a real quality operation, which [is] not acceptable.”

Other than the county’s overwhelming passage of Measure F on March 7, the other significant date that airport supporters point to is May 23, when the Board of Supervisors effectively stripped county Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier of control over the project by creating a new office to handle the work.

It was viewed by Nestande and others as the supervisors’ boldest move yet to keep the six-year planning process on track after $40 million had been spent to convert the former Marine base into a commercial airport.

Eventually, the supervisors’ strategy, ending in Mittermeier’s departure last week, left the land-use issue unresolved.

Facing a July 1 deadline, the county was forced to ask the Navy for a two-month extension to allow civilian activities such as horseback riding, RV parking, golfing and child care to continue at the 4,700-acre base.

Now, negotiations are underway between the county and the Navy for a master lease. Police authority--which was expected last December--was transferred from the Navy to the county just last week by the State Lands Commission.

The county estimates that it will post a $1.5-million to $1.8-million loss this fiscal year by paying for overall base maintenance. The goal is to bring in revenue by leasing parts of the base, such as its vast warehouses, office space, swimming pools and horse stables, for commercial and recreational use.

Although the county may break even on the base in the second year, profits may not be realized until well into the fourth or fifth year, a county staffer said.

In recent months, county airport planning officials have scampered from crisis to crisis, meeting one deadline while barely having enough time to focus on the next crisis.

“It’s become whatever the plan-of-the-month club you belong to,” said Supervisor Thomas Wilson, an airport critic. “Our CEO has become a casualty along with a lot of planners. I guess it proves that government at whatever level is not in the developer business and that you really need to leave such a project to professionals.”

Airport critics paint a grim picture of the county’s ability to construct an airport.

While Measure F supporters managed to stir anti-airport sentiment enough to motivate voters to go to the polls, airport opponent Leonard Kranser said it wouldn’t have worked if the county had developed a successful airport plan.

“From my standpoint,” Kranser said, “it always was a bad plan and this is the year that the plan unraveled.”

It’s a lesson for county government, said Wilson, who is one of two anti-airport supervisors.

“If you’re government, you really need to find out what the people feel about a particular project, such as putting an airport at El Toro,” Wilson said. “Measure F has been successful in bringing some of that fact to our doorstep.”

Still, there are optimists who believe that an airport will eventually be built.

“I recognize what has gone on,” said Tom Naughton, president of the Orange County Airport Working Group, which has pushed for another airport in the county since 1982. “It’s not moving as fast as I would have liked, but I believe there will be an El Toro commercial airport--though it does tax my patience.”