Irvine council seeking power over El Toro

Buoyed by the passage of Measure F this month, Irvine City Council

members unanimously agreed Tuesday to try and wrench authority over El

Toro from the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The first step will be a letter to the Department of Defense demanding

that the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority again be recognized as the

local redevelopment agency for the abandoned El Toro Marine Corps Air

Station.

Airport advocates, many from the Newport-Mesa area, are challenging

Measure F -- which could completely block the county’s plans for the

proposed $2.9-billion El Toro airport -- with a lawsuit.

Public opinion has swayed over El Toro during the past few years.

In 1993, Irvine, Lake Forest and Orange County formed the El Toro Reuse

Power Authority to represent communities that would be most affected by

the 1999 closing of the base.

The Defense Department recognized the group as the agency in charge of El

Toro’s redevelopment and awarded it a $1-million grant to proceed with

planning future uses of the base. The group developed some plans that

would turn the base into a commercial airport and some that did not

include aviation.

But in 1995, a majority of the county’s Board of Supervisors voted to

withdraw from the Reuse Planning Authority and won recognition as the

local planning agency. The county majority began pursuing development of

a commercial airport on the site based on passage of Measure A, a

countywide referendum that supported an airport on the site.

“Those who backed Measure A would be adamantly opposed to this step by

the Irvine council,” said Bruce Nestande, chairman of the pro-airport

group, Citizens for Better Jobs and the Economy. “That council is just

playing revisionist history. Their decision won’t even be considered

because we aren’t giving up on El Toro.”

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority changed as well. It now comprises

eight South County cities, including Irvine, that adamantly oppose an

airport at El Toro.

Shea’s letter notes that Measure F passed by an overwhelming majority,

which means the county must win two-thirds voter approval before it can

plan for airports, jails or hazardous waste sites near homes. The power

over El Toro should revert back to the original planning authority and

that authority should revert to its original membership, Shea said.

“The Irvine City Council believes the citizens of Orange County have sent

a very clear and resounding message to the members of the [Board of

Supervisors] and the federal government, who blindly continue to promote

the development of an airport at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro,” said

Mayor Christina Shea’s letter to the defense department.

Shea will send a similar letter to the county’s Board of Supervisors

asking for its support in the transference of power.

Irvine Councilman Larry Agran said the letters are an important first

step in preventing commercial aircraft from ever touching ground at the

former Marine Corps air base.

“If your letter, at the local level, elicits the appropriate response

from the Board of Supervisors, our problems are well on their way to

being solved,” he told Shea.