Group to Bypass County, Fund Non-Aviation Plan

Moving forward without backing from the county, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority decided Monday to spend $1 million for a non-aviation plan for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

“What we have created is a publicly open, honest program that guarantees for Orange County taxpayers the best and highest use” for the land, board member Randal Bressette said.

Expected to be completed by mid-April 1998, the study will look at alternate uses for the 4,700-acre Marine base, such as parks, sports facilities and schools. A team of consultants hired by the group will look at technical issues such as traffic, air quality and marketability.

The group had asked the county Board of Supervisors to provide $750,000 as a co-sponsor of the study, which would develop an alternative to a commercial airport approved by the county in December.

But county officials wanted the group to first drop a lawsuit against a crucial environmental report supporting the airport plans.

Courtney Wierchioch, who manages the county’s El Toro development plans, said it was “inconsistent” for the authority to want to work with the county without withdrawing its lawsuit.

“It’s not appropriate for ETRPA to challenge the same process that they hope to participate in,” she said.

The supervisors had called for development of a non-aviation plan when they approved the commercial airport proposal in December.

Meanwhile, the supervisors today are scheduled to review their own proposed 1997-98 budget for El Toro planning, including $20.4 million for studies--up from $13.9 million in the preliminary budget released in June.

Officials said the increase is due mainly to the fact that they underestimated the cost of the consultants.

The alternative study by the planning authority will be funded entirely from that group’s budget. The group is comprised of six South County cities and Irvine, which contribute to the budget according to their size.

Officials of the planning authority see the non-aviation plan as a way to let the Navy, which oversees base conversions, know that a strong, alternative proposal is preferred by communities living closest to the base.

The El Toro base is scheduled to close in 1999.

“The public deserves a right to know what viable alternatives are out there,” authority Chairman Richard Dixon said.

Dixon said the group has received a letter from the Navy encouraging the study.

“Your non-aviation proposal will be welcomed as a contribution to our Environmental Impact Statement process we are now starting for the reuse of MCAS El Toro,” a Navy official wrote.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Shelby Grad.