Planning at El Toro May Be More Open Now

* The July 16 editorial, “Candor for El Toro,” attempts to convey that any new effort by the Board of Supervisors to revive an honest aviation and nonaviation planning process for the reuse at El Toro would be virtually impossible.

While your editorial did accurately recount the unpleasant journey that all of Orange County, including the pro- and anti-airport coalitions, recently experienced, it failed to mention that a recent change of events within the county could in fact force all future planning efforts to be entirely open.

It is absolutely essential for the public to understand and recognize that the county executive officer had this Board of Supervisors, both pro- and anti-airport, operating under a cloud of deception.

In a most recent example, our former CEO and her staff presented a project management contract to our board for approval. The contract indicated that the contractor would be hired to complete work at John Wayne Airport, with no mention of work at El Toro.

As we would later find out, this contract would be modified with the CEO’s approval and without board notification. These changes allowed the contractor to reduce work at John Wayne Airport and conduct work at El Toro, when the original board-approved contract limited work to only John Wayne Airport. However, what is even more troubling than this enormous swap is that the county lost control and oversight of this important contract, which was valued at more than $800,000.

It is important to note that the flow of information did not only stop at the front doors of our two anti-airport offices.

In 1999, this board directed staff to enter into negotiations with the Navy in an attempt to reach an agreement which would allow the county to obtain the master lease for the property at El Toro.

Just a few weeks ago, the entire board, including the pro-airport majority, who South County assumed were in the know about all planning at El Toro, was stunned when staff stood up and stated that the talks with the Navy have been halted for more than one year.

Again, no notification was given to the board. It’s no coincidence that this revelation coincided with a unanimous board voting to exercise the CEO’s termination clause.

This lack of communication resulted in the board hearing from hundreds of distraught equestrian stable owners, swimmers, golfers, parents and children who virtually faced eviction from these community facilities and suffered a forced hardship.

Despite this public outcry, our CEO and her staff failed to accept any responsibility for their lack of leadership.

Fortunately, in March, Measure F gave the county the opportunity to slow down these wheels of deceit.

To help get things restarted, the board hosted public study sessions to explore both aviation and non-aviation reuse options for El Toro. These study sessions were good-faith attempts at restoring the public’s confidence in the process. As you suggested, and I do agree, this planning process is much larger than the people who in fact fill these positions of “power.”

However, while this process does face a serious credibility problem, we would be remiss if we failed to seize this opportunity to seek new leaders whose job will be to facilitate a planning process and not just to “build an airport at any cost.”

We are not, as you point out, simply changing the “name tags” of key staff overseeing a failed process.

So is it truly “too little too late” to restore the public’s faith in a new process as you suggest in your editorial?

Certainly, our past has created a county full of cynics. I have long considered myself among this group which has lost all faith. However, if we insist that our new leadership maintain an open, impartial attitude and allow the voice of the public to be heard every step of the way, Orange County will have the fresh start that it so desperately seeks. I believe that all five members of the board are up to the challenge.

TODD SPITZER

Supervisor, 3rd District