Wasting an asset at El Toro

Bill Turner

In Orange County we are about to do something that is hard to

believe.

We are in desperate need of new commercial airports and runways

for all of Southern California. At the present time, Orange County

has one commercial airport, with one runway that is, 5,700 feet long

-- the shortest commercial runway in the continental United States --

to serve 3-million people. We are going to take a fabulous

four-runway airport -- with two runways measuring more than 10,000

feet and two runways at 8,000 feet -- that is right in the center of

our county at the former El Toro Marine Base and sell it for a

fraction of its estimated $10 billion worth.

Developers will turn it into a park and real estate development

for a city that already has 52 parks and an area that already has

more than 100,000 acres of parks and open space and tell our people

to drive out to San Bernardino to use their airport. And they call

that good government.

Our airports are close to capacity and the El Toro Airport has the

least noise impact on the surrounding community of any commercial

airport in the state. A recent study by the Southern California Assn.

of Governments states that Southern California air traffic demands

are expected to double by 2030.

Where will the capacity to serve these additional air passengers

come from? Orange County already exports over half their its

travelers to other airports. The El Toro airport is ready to serve

the public that already owns it. Why should Orange County burden

other communities with additional air passengers when it already has

an airport in its own community that could meet those needs? It is

not fair to our neighboring communities, which provide for their own

air travel needs.

In 2002, the people of Orange County went to the polls to

determine the fate of El Toro. Shortly before the election, the

people from South County -- opposing the airport -- sued the county

and the city of Newport Beach. They were able to get restraining

orders preventing Newport Beach and the county from using public

money to explain to the voters the benefits of an airport at El Toro.

The voters were essentially presented only one view and were

promised a “Great Park” at El Toro with the passage of Measure W.

Obviously, with a very diminished opposition and low voter turn out

in the north county, Measure W passed. However, instead of getting a

“Great Park” on county land, as promised by Measure W, the people of

Orange County are now getting 3,600 living units, 3 million square

feet of commercial space, a number of golf courses and who knows what

else on a piece of land that was ceded to the city of Irvine. Some

real estate developers are going to get very rich developing the land

that we desperately need for an airport -- an airport that is already

there.

In the next few months, politicians representing special interests

instead of the needs of the public, will cause all the people of

Southern California to lose one of their most valuable transportation

assets: the El Toro airport.

In the early part of next year, El Toro will be auctioned off to

become a real estate development that is referred to as the “Great

Park” but should be called the “Great Real Estate Development.” There

are some people in the area that are now starting to call the “Great

Park” the “Great Bait and Switch,” because Measure W never could have

gotten passed if the public had been told what was going to really

happen to El Toro.

It is unfortunate that the residents of Orange County were never

made aware that the city of Irvine was going to annex the closed El

Toro base and turn it into a vast real estate development before the

Measure W election.

One more issue concerning Measure W that the residents of Orange

County were not made aware of is the redefining of the planning term,

“open space,” to include buildings up to 100 feet tall. Many people

thought that they were voting for an environmentally friendly piece

of legislation that would protect and enhance “open space” in Orange

County.

When the truth of Measure W is fully realized by the residents of

Orange County there are going to be some very, very disappointed

people.

We have another problem in relation to the El Toro Airport: We

can’t get anyone to discuss the “Buffer Zones,” which are tracts of

land around airports that are limited in their development to protect

local residents from airport noise and other hazards associated with

airports.

As a military air base, El Toro had 14,000 acres of “buffer zone.”

As a commercial airport, El Toro would be required to have only about

4,500 acres of “buffer zone.” As a “Great Park,” that additional

4,500 acres of “buffer zone” could be developed and would be worth

more than the entire El Toro Base itself. Someone would make a heck

of a lot of money while the residents of Orange County and Southern

California would have one less commercial airport to serve their air

travel needs.

In addition, the people who opposed the airport from South Orange

County spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars to unseat a

popular and competent County Supervisor in North Orange County, who

was in favor of the El Toro Airport. After the South Orange County

people got their man in the north seated, the Board of Supervisors

voted to cede the El Toro Airport to Irvine. El Toro Airport would

arguably never have been ceded to the city of Irvine if South County

had not gotten their man elected in the north. They were able to do

this by spending much more money than the other candidate.

This action made Measure W, and what the people were told they

were going to get, irrelevant because the measure was specific to

unincorporated county land and El Toro is now a part of a city. If

Irvine officials chose to, they could make all of El Toro a real

estate development and Measure W supporters would have no recourse.

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, known more

commonly as LAFCO, voted in November to approve Irvine’s annexation

of El Toro. Seventy percent of the Orange County population resides

in North Orange County and they were represented by only 29% of

commission members. Thirty percent of the Orange County population

resides in South Orange County and they were represented by 71% of

the commissioners.

This is how government now works in Orange County, California.

What is lost in all of this is the fact that El Toro does not

belong to the city of Irvine, South Orange County, the county as a

whole or even the state of California. El Toro is a fabulous

transportation asset, which any community would love to have, and is

owned by the people of the United States of America, in the custody

of the U. S. Navy.

Why make a bunch of developers rich when we so desperately need

this great transportation asset? Why should the city of Irvine

control a multi billion-dollar public asset that should benefit the

county, state and nation? Why should this $10 billion public asset be

taken away from the taxpayers and sold to a few developers for a

fraction of its value?

Who owns the “buffer zones” and who is going to develop the zones

and how much money will they make at the expense of Southern

California and Orange County?

Why should a deceptive Measure W that promised a park but will

deliver development and congestion be allowed to determine the

economic viability of Orange County for generations to come? Who is

willing to tell the truth about El Toro?

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Bill Turner is a Costa Mesa resident.