War Is On Over Future of El Toro, Cities Say : Planning: County withdrawal from reuse agency called ‘first shot.’ Irvine, Lake Forest seek to retain a voice. Suit is predicted.

EL TORO —  The Board of Supervisors’ vote to take charge of planning a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is “the first shot” in a war with South County cities, Irvine city officials said Wednesday.

Irvine and Lake Forest, which abut the base, have made it clear that they want to retain the decision-making role they have had as members of the now-gutted El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

The supervisors Tuesday withdrew from the reuse agency, which had been planning the future of the 4,700-acre base, and assumed control of the process themselves.

As a result of that decision, Irvine Mayor Michael Ward predicted that his city will act on its threats to challenge in court the legality of Measure A, which mandates that the county build a commercial airport at the base.

Lake Forest City Atty. Jerry Patterson said Lake Forest and several other South County cities will probably join in the litigation, which he expects will be filed by the end of the month.

Irvine City Councilman Barry J. Hammond said that while the county had “declared war” in December when the supervisors said they would withdraw from the planning agency, “they just shot the first bullet (Tuesday). All they have done now is escalate the tension between the cities and the county.”

Ward and Patterson said that although the county has abandoned the reuse planning agency, Irvine and Lake Forest will keep the authority alive to continue planning the future of the land at the Marine base, which is scheduled to close by 1999. Patterson said neighboring cities will also be asked to participate.

The county has offered to allow a variety of cities to serve in an advisory capacity, while reserving the decision-making authority for itself. But Ward and Lake Forest Mayor Richard T. Dixon said Wednesday that Irvine and Lake Forest will staunchly decline any offer to participate on an advisory board.

“I will not trade a position of having three votes of nine on a decision-making body to become one of 13 votes on an advisory board, and trust the Board of Supervisors to make the correct decision, “ Ward said. “That is enough to make you want to choke.”

Despite these outcries from South County, Paul Reyff, Pentagon project manager for the El Toro base conversion, said the Defense Department recognizes the responsibility of the Board of Supervisors to establish itself as the planning authority for El Toro under the mandate of Measure A.

But the Pentagon also has said it is important that the county give the cities next to the airfield, such as Lake Forest and Irvine, a role in the planning.

A letter the Defense Department sent Tuesday to Gaddi H. Vasquez, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the Pentagon would withhold recognition of the new planning organization proposed by the board “until the role of other impacted jurisdictions has been determined.”

Reyff said that after the Orange County division of the League of California Cities meets next week to make its appointments to an advisory board, the Defense Department may formally recognize the county’s planning authority. That would make the county eligible for federal planning grants.

If that happens, Reyff said, no other agency in the county, including the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, would be recognized by the Defense Department, which has the final say about what development plan is adopted for the base.

For the cities to sue the county over Measure A and refuse to become part of the new planning process “would be a tragic mistake,” Reyff said.

“They have a great opportunity to stay in the process and see that things are done right,” he said.

Reyff will meet with South County elected officials by the end of the week to urge them to cooperate with the new planning authority if they are offered a “significant and meaningful” role, he said.

“We don’t need any more gridlock in this planning,” he said. “We need to move forward.”

Lake Forest Mayor Dixon said, however, that the Pentagon is reneging on promises made two weeks ago. Dixon said that Paul Dempsey, director of the Defense Department’s Office of Economic Adjustment, who is Reyff’s boss, promised a group of officials from South County cities that he would not recognize a reorganized planning authority for the Marine base unless the changes were approved by the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

Dixon said that he believes that Dempsey has yielded to pressures from airport advocates, and that he will return to Washington next week to confront Dempsey.