Laguna Begins Talks on an El Toro, Canyon Land Swap : Trade: City meets with Interior Department to discuss including acreage into the agency’s proposal to give the base to Irvine Co. in exchange for wilderness land.

LAGUNA BEACH —  City officials said Wednesday that they have begun preliminary discussions with the federal government about the possibility of including a section of Laguna Canyon in a proposed land swap for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station property.

The discussions involve land west of Laguna Canyon Road and between El Toro Road and the San Diego Freeway that the city is trying to buy from the Irvine Co. to preserve as open space.

Del Smith, the city’s lobbyist in Washington, met with Department of the Interior officials Wednesday, Smith’s secretary said. Interior Department officials confirmed the meeting.

The city is hoping to have the acreage included in a possible land exchange proposed by the Interior Department in August. Under that proposal, the Irvine Co. would get part of the Marine base in exchange for wilderness land it owns next to the Cleveland National Forest.

The Marine base is scheduled to close by 1999.

The talks also coincide with a proposal made public Tuesday by the Laguna Hills Audubon Society. Under that proposal, the Irvine Co. would be given most of the Marine base in exchange for environmentally sensitive land in Laguna Canyon and a promise that the base will not be turned into a commercial airport.

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said that Laguna Beach has so far presented no formal proposal.

“We have had some preliminary discussions, very preliminary discussions, with Interior Department officials,” he said.

The property that Laguna Beach wants to include in a land swap was initially part of a larger 2,150-acre parcel known as Laguna Laurel that was slated for development by the Irvine Co. until the developer and the city struck an agreement in 1990 allowing Laguna Beach to buy the land in five parcels.

The city bought the first four parcels but does not have the money to make the final $33 million payment, due June 30, 1995. City officials had hoped to receive $25 million toward the purchase from Proposition 180, the California Parks & Wildlife Initiative, which voters rejected in June.

There is some dispute about the exact size in the final parcel, but it is between 147 and 189 acres.

City officials have been meeting periodically with Irvine Co. representatives in the hopes of extending the deadline for the final payment, but have reached no agreement yet. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 26.

Irvine Co. spokeswoman Dawn McCormick said company officials have not seen details of the Audubon proposal and do not know about the city’s plan. She said the company reserves the option to build 1,500 homes on the land if the city cannot come up with the final payment.

“We have said publicly that if they aren’t able to purchase it, we will develop it,” she said.

However, she said the Irvine Co. is still willing to work with the city.

“We will continue to move forward with the discussions on the payment, but those discussions are separate and distinct from any proposal that might be thrown out there about a possible land swap,” she said.

McCormick added that the Irvine Co. is still continuing talks with the Interior Department about the land swap the government proposed in August.