MAILBAG:

Orange County must expand its air service. The county needs more daily flights, but John Wayne cannot handle the expanded air traffic alone with its limited 500 acres of land.

For six years, residents have been promised a tax-free “Great Park” in the location of the closed 4,700-acre El Toro Air Base. The Great Park was proposed only so the closed air base would not be developed into a 24-hour international airport. Over the last six years, a staff of 20 has spent nearly $200 million, and all they have to show for it is a carnival ride called the “great park balloon” and a visitor’s center.

The total price tag for this park is expected to be greater than $1 billion, to be offset partially by the development fees from homebuilder Lennar Corporation when it builds 9,000-plus homes on part of the site.

At this time, Lennar is trying to keep itself in business dealing with the current real estate slowdown (Lennar Corp. has lost almost 75%, or $7 billion, of its market capitalization since purchasing the land in 2005). It doesn’t look like that development fee money will be coming any time soon, if ever.

In reality, Orange County needs more employers and businesses to create jobs for the residents who already live here.

Over the last 25 years it has been a classic NIMBY (not in my back yard) battle involving North Orange County, where John Wayne Airport is located, and South Orange County, where the closed El Toro Air Base is located. It’s time for the north and south to unite for the good of all residents and to solve this air transportation problem. Instead of wishing for a 24-hour John Wayne Airport and a Great Park that will never get built, how about building an AirPark?

The Orange County AirPark would be a 4,700-acre zone that includes a 3,300-acre park and open space, 900-acre business and multipurpose community center, and a 500-acre regional airport. The key to making this work is having the airport revenue and retail/commercial development fees help finance it.

The key is the 500-acre El Toro airport will be the exact same size with the exact same restrictions as John Wayne. The hours of operation, number of gates, types of aircraft and yearly passenger count would be the same as John Wayne. The only advantage El Toro would have is that it would be the county’s first “green” airport in keeping with the AirPark’s “environmentally cooperative” theme.

Local firms such as the Irvine Co. could develop the 900-acre business and community center. Five hundred of the 900 acres would be for community-only development. These 500 acres of community-only development would not be located in the open space of the park, so the park will have a “true” 3,300 acres of non-developed open space. The remaining 400 acres of the business and community center would be a business park providing office space for local businesses and jobs.

The 3,300-acre Great Park could be realized thanks to the airport revenue that would be generated. The Great Park could co-exist with the airport, just as the Back Bay Nature Preserve and John Wayne Airport do in Newport Beach, but the Great Park will have no air traffic over it. Since the 500 acres of “community-only” development comes out of the 900-acres set aside for business development, you could argue the Great Park stays at 3,800 acres.

By having the same restrictions at El Toro and John Wayne Airport, the south county residents would be guaranteed that a 24-hour LAX type facility would never be built. Orange County finally gets the extra daily flights it needs, plus a “Great Park” and business-community centers. This plan makes the North and South County equal partners in the skies.

If we could get the elected officials from the cities of North and South Orange County, the Board of Supervisors, the city of Irvine, the FAA and the Navy to finally work together for all of the citizens of Orange County, we could at last solve the air transportation needs of Orange County with an AirPark.

TOM SZULGA