Board to Stop Spending on El Toro Upkeep

They may not know what to do with El Toro, but a majority of Orange County supervisors agreed Tuesday that they don’t want to spend any more money on the former Marine base now that voters have blocked long-standing plans for an airport there.

At least three supervisors told Gary Simon, who heads the El Toro planning office, to start negotiating with Navy officials to take over maintenance and other costs at the 4,700-acre base. Doing so would save the county an estimated $25 million through 2005, Supervisor Todd Spitzer said.

Voters this month approved Measure W, which rescinded airport zoning passed in 1994 and rezoned the property for a park, open space and limited development. Airport backers Monday sued the county, attempting to stop enforcement of the initiative.

Supervisors said they expect to decide what to do with El Toro on April 16, a week before the Navy has said it will announce its decision on disposing of the base. The Navy has indicated that if it gives up the property, it will be sold publicly.

“I don’t want to see the county have to come up with additional funds for upkeep on a base we may not be [taking],” Supervisor Jim Silva said.

Board Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad said she wants to see a plan next month on what would be needed to get the county out of the El Toro planning business and to ensure that the county isn’t responsible for any environmental cleanup that might be required at the base, one of the most polluted federal sites in the country.

She also suggested that the county might take advantage of a Navy sale by creating a trust fund either from sale proceeds or from future budget savings to buy parkland for residents in North County, who have far fewer parks than their southern counterparts. Spitzer said the idea was good, but Silva opposed earmarking any savings for parks.

All five supervisors said they want to protect the base’s current tenants, who are leasing from the Navy through the county. They include several agricultural leases for farming and a lease for Western Heritage Assn. to operate the horse stables through 2005. Supervisors had previously approved negotiating with Western Heritage for the stable operation but didn’t officially sign the lease until Tuesday.

The county will ask the Navy to honor those leases through 2005 even if the county backs out of responsibility for any activities at the base.

Other uses approved by the county include a golf course, rental of the officers club and recreational vehicle storage.

Irvine and Lake Forest officials urged supervisors to let Irvine annex the property directly from the Navy for development as a park and other uses allowed by Measure W.

Irvine, Lake Forest and other South County cities should have a voice in what happens at El Toro, even if the county remains the official conduit with the Navy, said Richard T. Dixon, a Lake Forest councilman.

“It’s imperative that we don’t allow [the Navy] to sell off the base,” Irvine Councilman Mike Ward said. He said the city wouldn’t be interested in annexing the property if it is sold off in pieces to developers.

Spitzer said it’s important that the county and South County cities agree on how to move forward April 16 so they can present a united front to the Navy. Only an agreement on what could happen to the property without an airport will persuade the Navy to give the county more time to plan El Toro’s fate, he said.

“If we think we’re going to have succinct answers on the 16th, we’re fooling ourselves,” he said. “We have to at least let them know we’re diligently and collaboratively working on a plan.”