Supervisors say El Toro’s ready to fly

Paul Clinton

SANTA ANA -- After much delay, county supervisors on Tuesday approved

an airport for the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station that could

partially return the base to the military.

The decision to certify the project’s environmental report on Tuesday

came after almost two months of procedural delays that openly frustrated

some Newport Beach officials.

Supervisor Jim Silva, who represents Newport-Mesa, said the airport

should be operated as a “joint-use facility,” which would allow the

military to use the base as a staging ground for the first time since the

Marines pulled up stakes in 1998.

“If I could do anything with that facility, I would give it back to

the Marines,” Silva said. “We need to preserve our military air base

infrastructure if needed for a national emergency.”

In approving an airport that could handle 18.8 million annual

passengers by 2010, board members said the nation’s war against terrorism

led them to reconsider the future use of the base. The board voted in its

familiar 3-2 pattern.

South County airport opponents said they weren’t surprised by the

action and promised to slug it out in court against a county they said

failed to adequately address their concerns.

The board certified the environmental analysis of the airport after a

marathon meeting that droned on for almost nine hours.

“You knew, waking up this morning, that this was going to happen,”

said Lake Forest Councilman Peter Herzog after the decision. “There’s so

many problems with the [report] that it will be litigated and

overturned.”

No officials from either Newport Beach or Costa Mesa attended the

hearing. However, other airport supporters said the approval isn’t the

end of the fractious debate.

Before it is built, the airport must still clear several other major

hurdles, including a federal environmental review and the hand-over of

the base property by the Navy.

“It’s been a long road,” said Dave Ellis, spokesman of the Newport

Beach-based Airport Working Group. “This is just another step.”

Leaders from both sides of the debate spoke out during the hearing.

They were joined by fervid opponents of the expansion of Los Angeles

International Airport -- wearing shirts that read “El Toro Now!” --

challenging Orange County to share the burden of jet noise. In all, board

members listened to more than 80 speakers.

Another airport supporter, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, sent a letter

Tuesday to Chairwoman Cynthia Coad.

“It’s time for the opponents to stop playing games with this important

project,” Rohrabacher wrote. “Let’s quit wasting money and get on with

it.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .

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