Action Ends 2 El Toro Suits

After having spent $55 million over eight years to study what to do with the closed El Toro Marine base, Orange County supervisors on Tuesday rescinded two massive environmental reviews that examined building an airport at the site.

A group of south Orange County cities had promised to withdraw two remaining lawsuits over the county’s airport plans if the environmental documents were voided.

Local voters grounded plans for an airport at El Toro in March 2002, opting for a park, open space and limited development. Since then, Irvine has annexed the land, and the Navy, which still owns the base, is preparing to sell 3,700 acres in January under a new plan calling for much more development.

Despite the auction, there remains a remote possibility that the state, the Federal Aviation Administration or a private buyer could step in to build an airport at El Toro, said anti-airport activist Len Kranser of Dana Point. Because of Tuesday’s action, the county would have to draft a new environmental review to resuscitate airport plans, he said.

Other speakers at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting said the county’s review for El Toro had become obsolete, given voter rejection of the airport and the prospect of private development.

“At best, it’s a historic piece of a bygone political battle,” said Dave Melvold of the North Irvine Village Assn., a group of homeowners associations representing residents near the base.

The 10-city El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which opposed the airport, had filed lawsuits against the county, including two challenging the adequacy of its environmental studies. Those are the only lawsuits left to be settled.

A federal judge retained jurisdiction over monitoring the cleanup of toxic materials at the base. Irvine also must complete a future traffic analysis to satisfy settlement terms that ended a lawsuit by the state Department of Transportation over the city’s new development plans.

“This isn’t the final nail, but it’s one of the last,” anti-airport spokeswoman Meg Waters said after supervisors voted 3 to 2 to rescind the environmental documents. Pro-airport supervisors Chuck Smith and Jim Silva voted against the move; Tom Wilson, Bill Campbell and Chris Norby voted for it.

“I’m happy we’re finally able to put the idea of an El Toro airport to rest for good,” Wilson said.