Great Park looms

Alicia Robinson

Laguna Beach residents who have fought against a proposal to turn the

abandoned El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into an international

airport are heartened that an auction is effectively divvying up the

huge parcel, but mindful that the goal of a Great Park is still in

the future.

“The fact that all four parcels have bids on them is a step

forward to the Great Park,” said Laguna Beach City Councilwoman

Cheryl Kinsman, the city’s representative to the El Toro Reuse

Planning Authority, a group of Orange County municipalities that

united to fight the proposed airport.

“But we still must be vigilant until all the runways are removed,

which would make building an international airport there

cost-prohibitive,” Kinsman said.

“We know L.A. has lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

trying to obtain control of the property to build an international

airport.”

.

Two lucky bidders now all but own parcels at the closed military

base, while bids still can be placed on two other parcels until 3

p.m. today -- and possibly longer. The total amount of the top bids

that came in by Wednesday afternoon was $530.5 million, somewhat

short of the $1 billion or so that was spent to relocate base

operations in 1999.

The base property has long been the subject of a tug-of-war

between those who want a commercial airport and proponents of a

public “Great Park,” but Orange County voters’ passage of an

initiative in 2002 to create the Great Park effectively squelched the

airport option.

The Navy put 3,700 acres of the base up for sale in an online

auction that opened Jan. 5 and was set to close Wednesday, but the

auction rules say if a bid comes in on the closing day, it keeps the

auction open 24 more hours.

By Monday two of the base’s four parcels had gone for the minimum

bids -- a 902-acre piece for $125 million and a 202-acre piece for

$60 million. Those auctions are now closed.

But the two other parcels of 863 acres and 1,752 acres received

three and six bids, respectively, and can be bid on through today, or

Friday if more bids come in. The bidders have not been disclosed, but

once bids are officially awarded, likely in the next few weeks, the

winning buyers will be named, said David Haase, realty officer for

the federal General Services Administration, which is handling the

auction for the Navy.

Officials have said they expected a deluge of last-minute bids on

the parcels -- no one wants to tip his hand too early -- but in spite

of interest from about 700 investors and developers, bids have been

scarce.

“You would think that would materialize into more bids,” Haase

said. “No one has told me why they chose not to bid.”

The dearth of bids was not a surprise to Richard Taylor, vice

president of the Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group, a

proponent of an El Toro airport.

“Obviously the people that are putting up these bids don’t have a

lot to put up; they’re just putting up the bare minimum,” the Newport

Beach resident and former City Council candidate said.

He wondered who’s placing the bids and added that the city of Los

Angeles has offered significantly more than the current highest bids

all together.

Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas traveled to Washington,

D.C., earlier this week to press federal officials to help the city

get a lease for the base. Cardenas valued the city’s proposal --

which would include a 99-year lease, airport operations and clean-up

of environmental contamination -- at as much as $2 billion.

Even though Rep. Chris Cox has said the property should go to the

highest bidder, Taylor said, he hasn’t supported Los Angeles’

proposal.

Cox said it’s in taxpayers’ interest to make back more than $1

billion that was spent to relocate base operations, but that goal was

hampered by plans for the Great Park.

“The decision to have not just a significant portion of the

property but most of the property turned into parkland was tantamount

to a decision not to realize the highest amount of return from the

sale of the base,” he said.

He dismissed the machinations of Los Angeles officials as

politically motivated.

“They never did make an offer [to buy the property], and if they

had been serious, they could have bid in the auction,” Cox said.

-- Reporter Barbara Diamond contributed to this report.