Possible Uses for El Toro Land Could Be Decided in Six Weeks

Rep. Christopher Cox, who has pushed for a private sale of the 4,700-acre El Toro Marine base for eight years, said the details of how it would be sold, its potential uses and who would control its development would be hashed out in the next six weeks.

The Navy will declare the property surplus April 23. Until Tuesday’s vote, Orange County planners had worked for almost a decade to build a commercial airport there.

“This is a work in progress,” Cox (R-Newport Beach) said Wednesday. “All we know is that there’s not going to be an airport.”

The county’s plans were crushed after 58% of Orange County voters approved rezoning the base as parkland, open space and institutional uses, including museums, a university and a sports complex.

Any new owner developing the land through the county would be hamstrung by Measure W. Irvine, however, wants to annex the property and would not be tied to the same zoning.

The local measure also doesn’t affect about 14,000 acres around the site where building was restricted for 56 years because of jet noise from the Marine base. A state zoning panel has continued those restrictions, citing the county’s plans for an airport.

The development community was abuzz Wednesday about how to get a piece of the former base if it is sold.

“I don’t think there’s a home builder in Orange County that would not submit a proposal to make a purchase at that site,” said Tom Dallape, a vice president of the Hoffman Co., a land brokerage in Irvine.

Building at El Toro would take deep pockets, though. It could take years before legal issues, rezoning battles, toxic cleanup in some areas and site preparation are completed.

Early reports indicated interest from potential buyers ranging from the Irvine Co., which owns most of the land around the base, to Ross Perot Jr. It was unclear whether the land would be offered to a single buyer or split up and sold in parcels.

Local developers declined to share their intentions.

“Until more is known about what the Navy intends to do and what their process is, it is premature to comment,” said John Christensen of the Irvine Co.

Laer Pearce, spokesman for the Southern California Building Industry Assn., said developers were eager to build in the base but said another initiative to amend zoning inside its boundaries would probably be needed.

“The development community wishes we could try to meet the housing gap with more of that land than would become available to us under Measure W,” Pearce said.

Richard Gollis, chairman of the Orange County chapter of the Urban Land Institute, agreed that developers are anxious to put forth housing proposals for the land. Developers believe they can convince either county voters or Irvine council members that redevelopment would be more viable and attractive with more intense building in some areas, he said.

“It comes down to what is the optimum plan for a park,” he said. “There is going to be lots of give and take.”

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who fought the county’s plan as one of the board’s two-vote anti-airport minority, said the land must be sold consistent with Measure W’s restrictions.

But the measure allows for different visions of a park, said Bill Gayk with the Center for Demographic Research at Cal State Fullerton.

“You can have some real intensive uses there, or it can be a place where you can stroll on for miles,” he said. “It is going to take some time before we have clarification on what it all means.”

Airport supporters, meanwhile, continued their fight against the park plan Wednesday, announcing that they intend to file a lawsuit challenging the measure as unconstitutional.