El Toro Spending: Was It Worth It?

After spending six years and $35 million planning for a commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Orange County has a wealth of reports and studies on a project whose future is deeply in doubt. El Toro spending accelerated during the past year even as public support for the airport began to sour, financial records and a recent UC Irvine opinion poll show.

“I can’t believe that we’ve spent the time, effort and money to do this planning process and we don’t have anything to show for it,” Supervisor Tom Wilson said Thursday.

“The folks out there watching . . . see this process that is running amok, with the county throwing good money after bad,” said Wilson, who opposes an airport at El Toro.

El Toro planning manager Bryan Speegle defended the spending as a wise investment, saying the $35 million should be weighed against the ultimate value of the land, which is about $3.5 billion.

“I don’t think 1% of the value of the property is an unreasonable amount of money to spend to bring a project from its beginning to where we’re ready to begin construction,” Speegle said.

The spending has not attracted much public attention because of the source of the funds. County officials have, for the most part, avoided using general tax dollars. Instead, $27 million in excess revenue from John Wayne Airport has financed most of the planning process, sparing funds set aside for other county programs.

Some critics worry that Orange County taxpayers still could get hit with the tab, however.

Top county leaders said recently that it’s possible the county might have to repay some or all of the John Wayne Airport money if the El Toro airport planning is abandoned before its environmental review is approved.

“That’s the big unanswered question,” County Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier said recently.

No matter where the $35 million came from, the county’s decision to spend that much on an airport mired in controversy was foolhardy, said Bruce Whitaker, a member of the Committees of Correspondence, which began monitoring Orange County government after the 1994 bankruptcy.

“The airport has been such a burning priority for [the board majority] that they’re blinded to any cost,” said Whitaker, who manages a medical office in Anaheim. “We should decry this waste of money just to keep a standing army of consultants on hand to push an airport agenda.”

Supervisors on both sides of the El Toro debate have grown increasingly unhappy with how the airport issue has been handled. Last week, they voted unanimously to strip Mittermeier of her oversight responsibilities and establish a new El Toro planning office.

“There has to be better day-to-day management to keep the project on time, on schedule and to deliver a project that will withstand a predictable court challenge,” said Bruce Nestande, president of Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, a pro-airport group.

In addition, the supervisors have ordered an audit to determine how Mittermeier’s staff uses funds from John Wayne Airport to pay for El Toro planning. The amount of money diverted from John Wayne has nearly doubled in the past year, from $14 million to $27 million.

Critics questioned whether John Wayne Airport money was inappropriately used to cover more than $800,000 in salaries for administrators overseeing recreation programs at the former military base. The programs had nothing to do with the future airport.

“As long as it’s master-planned for an airport, and we’re trying to make that happen, I don’t have a problem with that,” board Chairman Chuck Smith said of the recreation spending. “If the FAA says there’s a problem, I guess we’ll just have to pay back the money.”

Mittermeier said she welcomed the review.

“County staff has worked diligently to ensure that payment procedures and funding requirements with regard to the El Toro account are strictly adhered to,” she said in a memo defending the spending.

In addition to the millions from John Wayne Airport, the county spent $3 million from a federal grant. Federal rules require that airport money be spent “directly and substantially related to the air transportation of passengers or property.”

Meanwhile, South County cities spent nearly $22 million in the past three years--and will spend at least $10 million more this fiscal year--fighting the airport. All of the money is from general tax revenue.

South County officials have defended their spending, saying they are fighting for their quality of life.

During the past three years, the county’s big-ticket El Toro expenses have included:

* $9.4 million for P&D; Consultants of Orange for developing a master plan for the new airport and associated development.

* Nearly $4 million for lawyers, including $2.2 million for Michael Gatzke, and more than half a million dollars to the county counsel’s office.

* $3.1 million for the Planning Center and its subcontractors, which has worked on a required environmental review of the project. The Costa Mesa firm has been working on airport landscape plans, business park designs, road configurations, open space plans and other support services.

* More than $4 million for the “base transition plan” and interim base uses, including $1.5 million for Orange County fire service during the past 10 months.

* $2.6 million for LSA Associates of Irvine, which has more than 21 staff members working on the environmental review and other technical reports.

* $1.4 million to cover staff time for project management within Mittermeier’s office.

*

Airport supporters and county officials defend the costs. They say an airport at El Toro is essential to meet the growing demand for air travel and for Orange County’s economic growth.

Backed by a successful voter initiative in 1994, the county’s airport plan calls for 2,000 acres of the 4,700-acre base to be used for the airfield, serving as many as 28.8 million passengers a year by 2020. The rest of the land is slated for a large regional park.

“This is a one-time massive infrastructure project, and there is nothing to compare it to,” Nestande said. “But some of the costs have been driven by the intense daily scrutiny, accusations and misstatements coming from [anti-airport cities], anti-airport people.”

Others say the county’s problems are more fundamental.

“They’ve spent nearly $40 million and even the pro-airport supporters say that their plan for an airport won’t work,” said Paul Eckles, executive director of the anti-airport El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, an eight-city coalition.

“It’s not possible to have a workable airport on that piece of property that is safe for the surrounding communities, economically feasible and politically and environmentally viable.”

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El Toro Planning Costs

Since 1993 Orange County has spent about $35 million planning for the reuse of the former El Toro Marine base. Of that amount, $27 million has come from John Wayne Airport revenue, $3 million from a federal grant and the rest from general tax dollars. In July 1997, the county created a separate account for El Toro expenditures. Here are some of the larger payments from July 1997-April 15, 2000:

Program Administration

County planners (salaries): $1.5 million

CEO’s office (salaries): $1.4 million

Bruce Wetsel (consultant): $294,671

Michael Lapin (program mgr): $153,440

Hanscomb Inc. (consultant): $17,084

TOTAL:: $3.4 million

*

Planning and engineering

P&D; Consultants (master plan): $9.4 million

The Planning Center (consult.): $3.1 million

LSA Associates (consultants): $2.6 million

JHTM Associates (consultants): $192,883

County planners (salaries): $162,607

Austin Foust (consultants): $20,202

El Toro Reuse Planning Authority: $20,000

Mestre Greve (noise engineers): $19,476

Jones & Stokes (consultant): $10,016

TOTAL:: $15.6 million

*

Lawyers

Michael Gatzke (general): $2.2 million

County counsel (salaries): $588,904

McCutcheon, Doyle (environ.): $571,770

Mark Mispagel (general): $552,255

TOTAL:: $3.9 million

*

Public Relations / Education /

Cable Television programs

Nelson Comm. (advertising): $325,161

Adlink (advertising): $145,378

Lynette Brasfield (public rel.): $128,923

Burson Marsteller (public rel.): $113,744

OC Regional Airport Authority: $58,666

Thomas Wall (speakers bureau): $55,000

Intratek (computer Website): $42,768

Time Warner (cable): $24,450

Patricia Buttress (speakers bureau): $13,809

TOTAL:: $907,899

*

Lobbyists

Hill & Knowlton: $180,000

Higgins, McGovern & Smith: $85,275

TOTAL: $265,275

*

Base Transition / Recreation programs

* Cabaco (base manager): $4.8 million

Orange County Fire Authority: $1.4 million

Gary Simon (real estate manager): $450,319

Orange County Sheriff’s Dept.: $207,523

Richard Thorman (golf consultant): $44,588

Dean Tibbs (electrical consultant): $22,853

Reimer & Assoc. (utility consult): $14,999

TOTAL:: $7 million

*

Flight Demonstration

TOTAL:: $892,555

*

Misc. Office expenses

Office expenses: $337,921

Telephone, utilities: $52,981

HL Miller (office renovations): $39,802

Ron Yeo (architect, office improvements): $9,019

TOTAL:: $439,723

*

Travel, Meetings, Conferences

TOTAL:: $94,674

Misc. contractors

Rosenow, Spevacek (homeless/housing study): $10,076

* Cabaco’s payments are offset by $2.2 million in revenue the company collected running the RV storage lot, golf course and horse stables. .

Source: Orange County Auditor-Controller’s Office

Los Angeles Times