Irvine Is Set on Gaining El Toro

Irvine officials plan to forge ahead with their bid to annex the former El Toro Marine air base and convert it into a sprawling park, despite the U.S. Navy’s plan to sell off the prime suburban real estate to the highest bidder.

Irvine City Councilman Chris Mears said that, because of Tuesday’s passage of Measure W, the Navy’s announcement does not trump the city’s hopes to replace the base with a park. That vote rezoned the area for a mix of parkland, open space and limited-density educational uses, such as a university, zoo and botanical garden.

“The people overwhelmingly said, ‘Enough is enough. We want the use described in Measure W,’ and I think they ultimately will have it,” Mears said. “We’re going to proceed with what we hope is the successful annexation of the base as a Great Park.”

Irvine’s stance capped a day of competing visions put forth for the base’s future. Undaunted by both the vote and the Navy’s announcement, pro-airport forces moved toward what could be a last-gasp effort to salvage a commercial airfield at El Toro.

The Airport Working Group, a leading proponent of an international airport at the base, was mapping out a possible legal challenge to Measure W.

In addition, a group of airline pilots and aviation engineers submitted a proposed November ballot initiative Thursday that would supplant Measure W with a modified version of a previous airport option called the V-plan.

That option would realign runways to direct departing planes south over parkland. But that proposal was rejected by county planners and is opposed by the powerful Irvine Co., which fears it would send flights over its expensive homes at Newport Coast.

Under the V-plan, planes would land from the north, the opposite of the path the county had proposed and voters rendered moot under Measure W, which bars an airport at El Toro.

Villa Park Councilman Bob McGowan, a former air traffic controller and United Airlines pilot, said he hoped supporters of the Reasonable Airport, Park and Nature Preserve Initiative can persuade Navy officials to hold off declaring El Toro surplus and selling the 4,700-acre base. “The Navy is waiting for something else to come up,” he said. “We have 30 days. We’re hoping to have the signatures for the ballot.”

The Airport Working Group and Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, another pro-airport group, have backed the V-plan effort, said organizer Russ Niewiarowski of Santa Ana Heights.

“I don’t know why [the Navy is] so anxious to put up a for-sale sign,” he said. “With our initiative, and the lawsuit, it’ll send a strong message that it’s not over.”

Supporters said they will ask the Board of Supervisors to put the initiative on the ballot without requiring them to gather signatures of registered voters in the county.

But the board’s 3-2 pro-airport majority earlier refused to put a similar measure on the ballot, and with Supervisors Cynthia P. Coad and Jim Silva’s announced plans to drop support for an airport after the passage of Measure W, it seemed unlikely that the effort would gain much support.

Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Pauline Storum said the Navy would accept the V-plan proposal under the public comment period after the release today of its final environmental review of El Toro. Any submissions, she said, would be considered before the Navy announces a final decision on April 23.

Navy officials said Wednesday that they intend to sell the base, either in parcels or as a whole.

“I think overall we’re trying to come to closure with the base closure,” Storum said, pointing out that the decision to mothball El Toro was made in 1993, and it was closed in 1999. “Here it is 2002 and we’re still trying to finish the process.”

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Times staff writer Evan Halper contributed to this report.