L.A. Asks for Airport at El Toro

The city of Los Angeles has secretly asked the federal government to allow it to run a commercial airport at Orange County’s former El Toro Marine air base -- a move almost certain to spark intense opposition.

Even without the specter of Los Angeles’ becoming involved, proposals to open an airport at El Toro have polarized politics in Orange County, where the ideas have been under debate since 1994.

A year ago, many Orange County voters believed that they had ended the debate by approving a ballot measure calling for the El Toro property to be rezoned as parkland. The park initiative was supported by ratios of more than 3 to 1 in southern Orange County cities nearest the old base.

But the Southland’s urgent need for more airport space should override the wishes of Orange County residents to devote the property to parkland and other uses, according to the Los Angeles Airport Commission president, Ted Stein, and Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards.

“It would simply be a modern tragedy if El Toro -- an invaluable aviation asset in Southern California -- is converted to parkland, rather than to a commercial airport that could eventually carry nearly 30 million passengers annually,” the two said in a memo to federal officials.

“This exceptional federal property should be dedicated to benefit the citizens of the entire nation.”

In the 37-page memo to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Los Angeles officials argued forcefully that federal intervention is necessary to help solve Southern California’s air capacity crunch. Their proposal is that the Transportation Department take over the property, which closed as a military base in July 1999, and lease it to Los Angeles, which would operate the airport.

The memo, dated April 9, was obtained by The Times.

The proposal still faces formidable obstacles. It would need approval from the Transportation Department and possibly Congress.

Asked for comment, department officials said only that there “is no proposal on El Toro” before the agency.

A spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn said city officials had presented the plan to officials in Washington and hope to discuss the proposal with federal lawmakers in coming weeks.

Such a deal, which the mayor acknowledges is a “long shot,” would require finessing of Orange County officials. Many of them support an airport plan, but others are heatedly opposed. Hahn has yet to sit down and discuss the proposal in detail with Orange County lawmakers.

“We don’t want to tell Orange County what they can and can’t do,” Hahn said in an interview Thursday. “This only works with support in Orange County, and there has been significant support there over the years for an airport.”

Ignoring the billions invested over the years in El Toro’s airfield in favor of homes, offices and parkland would be tragic, given the region’s need for additional airport capacity, said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), a longtime airport supporter.

He said he supports Los Angeles’ proposal, though he believes that any final airport plan should be presented to Orange County voters.

“The last vote was not the last word on El Toro,” he said. “It’s becoming evident that the Great Park was really a great fraud and what voters thought they were getting won’t get built. We owe it to the future of Orange County, the future of the region and the taxpayers of the United States not to throw away this asset.”

If the Transportation Department agreed to take over El Toro and lease it to the city’s airport agency, Los Angeles officials said, they could have a commercial airport up and running within six years.

The airport could serve 28.8 million passengers and handle 2 million tons of cargo a year within 15 years, the memo suggests, making it second in size in Southern California only to LAX. That would put it on par with San Francisco International Airport, which served 31 million passengers last year.

Los Angeles operates four airports: LAX, Van Nuys and Palmdale in Los Angeles County and Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County.

The move by Los Angeles comes just as the Navy is completing plans to auction 3,700 acres of the El Toro property later this year, with proceeds estimated at about $800 million.

Without additional airport capacity, Southern California will face an air transportation crisis in the next 20 years, regional planners say. Air traffic in the region is expected to double to 167 million passengers by 2025, putting pressure on LAX, which already operates at 40% more than capacity.

In addition, Hahn promised to cap LAX traffic at 78 million passengers a year to build political capital for a $9.6-billion modernization proposal.

Most of the region’s other airports face limits on their ability to expand. Long Beach and John Wayne have noise restrictions that cap their growth. Burbank residents have fought expansion of the airport there for years.

Ontario Airport, which is also operated by Los Angeles, is designed to serve as many as 10 million passengers a year before it requires expansion. San Diego International Airport, also known as Lindbergh Field, is straining under the weight of too many passengers too.

Without El Toro, there’s nowhere for the expected additional millions of passengers to go, Los Angeles officials said.

“Long Beach just got approval to cap their flights,” Hahn said. “John Wayne has reached its limits. Lindbergh has reached its limits. No airports to the south can accommodate the great population growth down there.”

Los Angeles officials have argued that Orange County must take its “fair share” of air travelers, either through developing an airport at El Toro or expanding John Wayne.

“LAX clearly has taken the brunt of the region’s aviation demand,” Deputy Mayor Edwards said in an interview Thursday. “We have a master plan for LAX that will provide for 78 million annual passengers, and Ontario could serve more. But even with all those efforts we know that 50 million annual passengers will be unprovided for by 2025.”

Opponents of an El Toro airport have warned for a year of possible attempts by state lawmakers to bypass local control and build an airport there.

An anti-airport Web site last week alleged that Orange County Supervisor Chuck Smith, who favors an El Toro airport and who is in line to head the Southern California Assn. of Governments next year, would use the group to create a regional airport authority similar to a state-created agency in San Diego.

“It is not over until it is over,” wrote Web site editor Len Kranser.

In their memo, Stein and Edwards acknowledge that Orange County residents would probably sue the city of Los Angeles if the city acquired control of the former Marine base.

If the U.S. Transportation Department agreed to the city’s proposal, it would be a departure from the federal government’s practice, which has been to allow local entities to decide whether to build or expand airports. Likewise, base closure law defers decisions about mothballed facilities to local reuse authorities.

Supporters of Los Angeles’ proposal hope to persuade Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to make a formal request for the base. Mineta has pushed in recent years for additional airport space, saying the nation’s air transportation system is approaching its limits.

The memo also argues that several members of Congress -- including Rep. John Mica (R-Florida), who heads the House aviation subcommittee -- are on the record in support of converting El Toro into a commercial airport. The success of an El Toro takeover would also rest in part on the willingness of the Navy to give up its plans for the base, which carry a high price tag. The Navy hopes to receive at least $800 million from selling the property, which would then be developed under plans approved by the city of Irvine. Proceeds from the sale would go to the Navy, and would have to be used to clean up the base’s contaminated soil and groundwater.

Cleanup issues could also cause wrinkles in what officials hope will be a smooth sale. Federal and state environmental regulators haven’t approved the Navy’s plans to sell base property. Included in areas that still haven’t been cleared for sale are about 900 acres of runways that could cover contaminated soil.

The Los Angeles memo doesn’t state a price for the property, but Edwards said Thursday that the city’s offer is better for taxpayers, who would otherwise have to foot the bill for cleanup costs, a figure placed at $300 million in the city’s memo and $70 million by the Navy.

“We know the figures that have been in the paper for El Toro in the past for the sale of it,” Edwards said. “We could easily outdo those in terms of a 99-year lease.”