Newport officials see less hope for El Toro

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- The county’s decision to hand over El Toro to Irvine

could be one of the final, if not most shocking, blows to plans for an

airport at the closed Marine base, city leaders said Wednesday.

At their meeting Tuesday, a majority of supervisors dramatically voted

to bail out on their nearly decade-long effort to plan an airport and

hand the base to the city that hopes to build a Great Park.

“It certainly decreases the chance for an airport at El Toro,” Newport

Beach City Manager Homer Bludau said. “At this point, it sounds like a

majority of the Board of Supervisors feel that an airport is no longer

realistic.”

At the meeting, the surprise development was Chairwoman Cynthia Coad

breaking ranks from her pro-airport colleagues, who include Newport-Mesa

representative Jim Silva.

Before supporting the move, Coad cut a deal with Supervisor Todd

Spitzer to receive $2 million in state park bond money for parks in North

County in exchange for her support.

Coad was also promised as much as $800,000 in property tax money from

base development to be used for a park trust fund.

Coad’s move surprised Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway. At the very

least, he said, the supervisor -- who was defeated in March by Fullerton

City Councilman Chris Norby -- should have asked for more park funds.

“Somebody should talk to Cynthia and ask her to reevaluate that vote,”

Ridgeway said. “She could have got a lot more mileage out of her vote.”

Navy officials have announced their intention to sell off 3,700 of the

4,700 acres of the base. The federal government has set aside 1,000 acres

for a mandatory wildlife preserve.

A Navy announcement is scheduled for April 23, but Federal Aviation

Administrator Jane Garvey could step in to delay that decision.

Garvey, who has publicly remained silent on the issue, supports an

airport at the base, FAA spokeswoman Tammy Jones said.

“The administrator is supportive of the local government’s efforts to

find alternatives to selling off the land at El Toro,” Jones said.

“Whatever the local government comes up with to deal with the solution,

she is supportive of.”

But, regardless of Garvey’s cryptic stance, Irvine is moving ahead

with annexation plans.

Irvine City Manager Allison Hart gave a presentation to the board on

Tuesday in which she laid out her city’s aggressive schedule for securing

the property and turning around a park plan.

Irvine officials plan to begin negotiations with the Navy in May,

circulate an environmental analysis in September and annex the base by

April 2003.

Measure W, which passed on March 5 with a 58% margin, rezoned the base

from aviation to open space. Airport boosters have sued to overturn the

initiative.

“That’s what the voters voted for,” Irvine Councilman Mike Ward said.

“We helped create this idea, and we’re going to follow it through.”

Not all Newport-Mesa officials are convinced that an airport for the

base is dead. Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan said Tuesday’s vote

could be only political wangling on a contentious issue.

“Just because the county took that vote, doesn’t mean it is over,”

Monahan said. “There are sure to be a few more horse trades.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .