Lease Plan for El Toro to Go to Supervisors

Paving the way for the county’s eventual takeover of the former El Toro Marine base, two supervisors announced agreement Friday on a lease proposal that allows the county to generate revenue by charging rent to community programs and puts aside the bigger issue of aviation until environment impact reports are completed.

The announcement by Chairman Chuck Smith and Supervisor Tom Wilson represents one of the few times that Smith, a staunch pro-airport advocate, and Wilson, an anti-airport critic, have come to agreement on an El Toro-related issue.

“We will continue our aviation planning efforts at El Toro,” said Smith. In the interim, he said, a lease allows use of the base for many activities.

Last month, the county won police authority from the state Lands Commission and also secured a 60-day extension to continue programs on the base that include day care centers, horse stables, RV storage and the golf course.

The board will consider the lease at its Aug. 1 meeting. The Navy still has to approve the agreement.

Under the lease proposal, the county will take over costs for maintaining the base, estimated at about $4.5 million a year, roughly what the Navy had paid. With a lease in hand, the county can charge rent not only to the current programs using the base but for office space and warehouse facilities on the 4,700-acre site.

“We will also be taking over the agricultural leases at the base and will be reopening the officers club now that we have won policing authority,” Smith said.

But the county may come up financially short in its first year overseeing the base, he said. Agricultural leases that now bring in about $750,000 will have to be renegotiated and Congress has recently appropriated $1.5 million to help with base upkeep.

“We feel very strongly with our number crunching that the county can make a profit in the second year, at least enough to cover all the maintenance costs and still earn a profit,” he said.

Aviation remains a long-term goal for the three pro-airport supervisors, Smith said. With the new lease, Smith said it would be up to the board to approve additional programs at the former base each year.

Measure F, passed last March, calls for a two-thirds public vote before supervisors can build new airport projects, large jails near homes or hazardous waste landfills. A judge is expected to rule Aug. 23 on the measure’s constitutionality, as challenged by airport advocates.

Smith said that while aviation is still a priority for the base, “we cannot have any aviation use until we complete and certify environmental impact reports,” and those will take time, he said.