Irvine Votes to Form Great Park Corp.

The Irvine City Council voted Tuesday to form a nonprofit corporation to develop and manage a large park it envisions at the closed El Toro Marine base.

As prospects appeared to dim for Los Angeles city officials’ latest efforts to revive an El Toro airport, Irvine moved ahead with plans to turn much of the 4,700-acre base into parkland.

“This move takes us one step closer to letting people know that the Great Park will be built,” said Irvine Mayor Larry Agran just before the council voted 5 to 0 to create the Orange County Great Park Corp.

The nonprofit would be governed by a seven-member board of directors appointed initially by Irvine council members. Directors would serve four- or five-year terms. On subsequent boards, the council would continue to appoint two members. The corporation would collect $200 million in fees from developers who are expected to build homes and businesses on 16% of the base. The money, combined with $153 million in other assessments and bonds, would then be used to build the park, city officials said.

Great Park visitors, residents and businesses also would pay fees for the upkeep of facilities.

Forming a public corporation is the best way to offer the park to Orange County residents without burdening Irvine’s coffers, city officials said.

The next milestone will be a July 8 public hearing on a proposed city ordinance to govern park development. The proposal calls for developers to dedicate land for schools and two public golf courses.

Since the Navy announced El Toro’s closure in 1993, base redevelopment has been mired in a battle over the best land use. Orange County voters thought they had put the issue to rest last year by deciding to zone it as a park. But Los Angeles city officials began quietly lobbying the federal government this year to lease the land and build a commercial airport on the site. They argued that Los Angeles International Airport and other regional airports cannot handle expected increases in air travel.

Tuesday night, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to support the move by the city to operate an airport at El Toro. The vote to send a letter of support to federal officials was 4 to 1, with Supervisor Mike Antonovich opposing.

The idea seemed to fade last week, however, as the Navy vowed to proceed with the sale of the base for homes, businesses and the Great Park.

On Tuesday, angry Irvine council members also agreed to take out informational ads in area newspapers condemning Los Angeles’ proposal.

“To see them do that in secret -- that the city of L.A. and [airport officials] were conspiring really to override the will of the people of Orange County and treat us like a land-use colony -- is outrageous,” Agran said.

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Times staff writer Jennifer Oldham contributed to this report.