El Toro Planners Push Back Board Vote

Orange County airport officials on Wednesday announced they are pushing back the Board of Supervisors’ vote on the El Toro airport plan from December to next spring, a move that critics said demonstrated a slip in the planning process.

“[The county] has said they would have the base, signed, sealed and delivered, when the Marines left by July 2,” said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for a coalition of anti-airport cities.

Instead, Waters said, the county has spent $25 million on a proposed airport that has become a “money pit” and that few residents in South County want.

But Michael L. Lapin, the county’s El Toro program manager, defended the delay which he said is, in part, necessary to complete a draft environmental impact report for the project. Creating a commercial airport at the retired El Toro Marine Corps Air Station would be among the largest public works projects in county history, he said.

“This doesn’t represent any slippage,” Lapin said, “but shows responsible planning.”

Under the new master schedule, the airport’s draft EIR would be released to the public Nov. 19. Instead of a 45-day public comment period, which was the initial plan, the public would have 60 days to respond.

“Given the size and importance of this project, we’ve extended the public comment period 15 days and also extended the county’s response to the public comment to 90 days,” Lapin said.

The vote to certify the environmental report will go to supervisors on May 18, 2000.

The county’s plans for transforming El Toro into a commercial airport by 2005 already have hit numerous roadblocks, putting the process behind schedule and giving foes repeated opportunities to mount attacks.

Air cargo flights were expected to begin this summer but failed to materialize. The decision about who should provide police protection in anticipation of the Marines’ long-scheduled departure last month was stalled at a little-known commission in Sacramento.

Other obstacles have also plagued the planning process, including the failure to land a crucial lease from the Navy so the airstrip could be put into use by July. The delays have made airport supporters edgy and given critics hope.

County officials have insisted the delays are not problematic and that some snags were expected.

Supervisor Jim Silva, who is among the 3-2 board majority backing the airport, said he is not concerned about the revised schedule.

“It represents good sound planning if you ask me,” Silva said. “We want to make sure the EIR comes in and we would like to see a flawless EIR.”

Both Silva and Chairman Charles V. Smith said that, in the past, the county had target dates for the process, but never relied on a formal project schedule. That changed when Lapin was hired in May as the county’s No. 2 administrator for the proposed airport.

Lapin, who earns $170,000 a year, assumed the top administrator job on July 20 after Courtney Wiercioch stepped down to prepare for the birth of her second child.

“It’s not a slip,” Smith said. “You can’t call it a slip in schedule because these were goals. [County officials] gave us dates which they obviously were unable to meet. This is the first schedule given out to the press by the county.”

The two South County supervisors who have consistently voted against the airport said they believe the planning process is behind.

“The project is way off schedule and significantly over budget,” Supervisor Todd Spitzer said. “Obviously, this is another fine example of the flawed airport planning process that neither more time nor more money can fix.”

Supervisor Tom Wilson, who said his office requested a formal schedule, found even the revised timeline “very ambitious” and too optimistic.

“I don’t think the new program manager has taken all aspects into account,” Wilson said, “and I do hope he has good justification when he doesn’t meet these dates.”