So Far, So Good-Natured for El Toro Reuse Authority : Planning: After months of debate over its formation, first meeting is agreeable. Next one could be different.

SANTA ANA —  If the first meeting of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority is remembered for anything it will be for its brevity.

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Without a single word of acrimony, a quality that has marked the seven-month organizational process, the new nine-member board Wednesday zipped through an opening agenda in less than 35 minutes.

Among the panel’s first actions as it begins to chart the post-military use of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station was to begin a nationwide search for an executive director who would manage the daily planning operations of the authority.

“Well, it seems we’re getting along just fine,” quipped Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley, who is expected to serve as the authority’s chairman. “We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go.”

The selection of an “unbiased” director was needed to steer the process through a minefield of opposing views on how the 4,700-acre base should be developed, officials said.

North County cities have favored developing a commercial airport to boost local tourism, while South County cities have said an airport would foul residential communities with more noise and traffic.

“The goal is to keep the process open and objective,” said board member and Lake Forest City Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph. “That will be the success or failure of this project.”

As the local planning authority was convening, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on Wednesday reaffirmed its intention to claim part of the base as a minimum-security prison.

Patricia Sledge, the bureau’s site selection chief in Washington, said the agency would likely submit an application to house 1,600 to 3,000 inmates at El Toro.

“We’re interested in everything out there,” Sledge said of available federal property in California. “We build nice places and we’re a good neighbor. We have to find out whether we fit into the reuse plan out there.”

The bureau’s enthusiasm, however, was not shared by the new authority members.

“It always amazes me that the Bureau of Prisons is looking for sites in a residential area,” said Irvine City Councilman and authority member Barry J. Hammond.

There was no discussion of the bureau’s efforts during Wednesday’s meeting at the Hall of Administration.

Instead, the group reviewed the needs for governing bylaws and funding to pay for the authority’s work. At least some of the money could come from a Federal Aviation Administration grant to study the possible location of a commercial airport there.

The governing board consists of all five Orange County supervisors, Irvine’s Hammond, Mayor Michael Ward and Councilwoman Christina L. Shea and Lake Forest’s Rudolph.

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North County cities and others not part of the top board of directors have been invited to join a 50-member executive council. That panel will also draw members from the county, representatives from seven unincorporated areas of South County, seven business groups and four universities.

The leadership structure continues to leave some North County leaders unhappy with an authority which they say leans too far in favor of South County interests.

Anaheim City Councilman Irv Pickler said he would recommend that the city join the authority’s executive council, but also would request that the city further explore its interests in the Orange County Regional Airport Authority. The agency, made up of North County cities, supports the conversion of the base to an airport.

Nonetheless, Pickler said the city would be “foolish to turn its back on the executive council. We’ll be there. We want to keep the process honest.”

Communities, business groups and universities invited to join the executive council have until Feb. 15 to confirm their interests.

Perhaps the most anticipated action expected out of Wednesday’s first meeting of the governing board never materialized: City members were expected to challenge county members over who should occupy the posts of chairman and vice chairman of the authority.

County supervisors want two of its members to be in charge for the life of the agency, but Irvine officials, who have land-use authority over a small portion of the base, want city officials to share the leadership positions.

The issue is expected to be settled at the authority’s next meeting.