Pentagon Wants End to El Toro Logjam : Military: Defense officials threaten to draft their own plan for the Marine base if county supervisors, Irvine and Lake Forest fail to agree on its reuse soon.

SANTA ANA —  If county officials do not soon reach an accord with Irvine and Lake Forest on how to put El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to civilian use, Pentagon officials are threatening to impose a deadline--after which they may draft a plan of their own.

As a result, Supervisor Marian Bergeson said Wednesday that “to break the logjam” she will ask her colleagues to reverse their decision to withdraw from--and effectively shut down--a planning group that included members from the cities.

When supervisors meet Jan. 24, Bergeson said, “I will ask for the (planning authority) process to continue. Either we do or the whole thing comes to a standstill.”

After county voters narrowly approved a measure last fall calling for the placement of a commercial airport at the El Toro site, supervisors decided to end the county’s participation in the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority as of Jan. 31 and take over the planning.

Dan Miller, executive director of the planning authority, said Wednesday that Department of Defense officials have threatened “to throw up a deadline of 90 days” to force the supervisors, Irvine and Lake Forest to agree on a new planning group.

Paul Reyff, Department of Defense project manager for the closure of El Toro, agreed that the imposition of a deadline “is a reasonable possibility,” because Pentagon officials are afraid the planning process for the base has come to a halt.

Bergeson, who met with Reyff last Friday, said, “I wouldn’t say it’s a threat. It’s pretty much a declaration. They want to see some unanimity.”

Reyff also said that a deadline may be necessary because the Marines may exercise an option to leave the base quicker than the 1999 closure date.

“It looks like 1999 may be moved up a little bit,” Reyff said without elaboration.

Lt. Brad Bartelt, spokesman for the Marine base, said that currently there are no “tangible” efforts to accelerate closure. However, he said: “The bottom line is if we can close it earlier we can save the taxpayers that much more money.”

The closure plan calls for the Marines to move to Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego by 1999.

The reuse planning authority had comprised the five supervisors plus three representatives from Irvine and one from Lake Forest. It was formed last year after a bruising months-long political battle that stemmed from the supervisors’ reluctance to share planning power with the cities, which oppose using the base as a commercial airport.

When the supervisors voted to withdraw, both cities began fighting to remain a part of the planning process.

“The disunity that is being demonstrated will only inhibit the process,” Bergeson said. “The bottom line is that nothing will happen until there is some consensus on how to proceed.”

If the Board of Supervisors cannot come up with an acceptable plan that includes the participation of Irvine and Lake Forest, the Defense Department could draft a reuse plan of its own for the base.

The Pentagon insists that Irvine and Lake Forest be included in the planning for the development of El Toro. But Bergeson and other supervisors say the military has not made it clear whether the two cities’ participation in the planning process can be limited to an advisory capacity or whether it has to be a hands-on role.

On Wednesday, gleeful Irvine officials announced they were told by Pentagon officials that the military will not recognize the supervisors as the new planning agency unless all current members of the lame-duck planning authority agree on the change.

A delegation of several South County cities met with defense and Navy officials in Washington on Monday.

“They informed us of their longstanding policy that once (the Pentagon) recognizes a land-use authority, they won’t recognize a new one unless all members of the first group agree to change,” Irvine Councilman Barry J. Hammond said.

Reyff confirmed the meetings between representatives from the South County cities and military officials.

“I guess what we’re really saying is they have to compromise and agree on a change,” Reyff said. “Orange County alone can’t become the planning authority, because other communities are impacted.”

Miller, who has piloted the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority through stormy political seas during the past year, said that “the bottom line is that the Pentagon will not recognize the county alone as the planning authority. And they will not recognize Irvine and Lake Forest together as the planning authority for El Toro.

“Clearly,” he said, “something is going to have to be worked out.”