Decisions on El Toro Base’s Future Delayed : Closure: Under pressure from South County cities, supervisors postpone naming of transition planners.

SANTA ANA —  Facing pressure from a group of South County cities, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed key decisions on a leadership structure to guide the planning for converting El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to civilian purposes after the base closes.

The delay in approving the membership of the El Toro Advisory Commission comes at an especially difficult time for the county, as federal authorities are scheduled to meet today with local leaders to discuss transition plans.

“Deferral of a decision would leave the county unable to advise the (Department of Defense’s) Office of Economic Adjustment and the public . . . that an advisory council has been named, and it could make the County of Orange appear to be indecisive rather than in a leadership role,” County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider stated in a report to the supervisors Tuesday.

But the board, in the wake of protests lodged by the cities of Irvine, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach and Mission Viejo, delayed for two weeks a decision to establish the commission that would oversee planning for the 4,700-acre site.

Under the county’s latest proposal, circulated in just the last few days, cities represented on the advisory commission would include Irvine, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Newport Beach, Tustin and Anaheim. Because of concerns expressed by Mission Viejo, Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said that city would be added to the commission. Business community representatives nominated for membership on the commission were the Irvine Co., the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial League of Orange County, the Building Industry Assn. and the South County Chamber of Commerce.

But on Tuesday, city officials protested that the county was rushing to approve a commission structure and, in some cases, excluding some cities from future participation.

Laguna Niguel Mayor Thomas W. Wilson told the supervisors that he is accustomed to a more methodical approach “for something of this magnitude,” adding that he had not had time to review the county proposal with his city colleagues. “To go in there (to the City Council meeting) tonight and say it’s a done deal, I’m afraid, will look like something is being jammed down our throats.”

Although Irvine was included on the county’s list, Councilman Barry Hammond strongly urged a more powerful role for his city. Hammond and other Irvine city officials have called for the creation of a joint-powers authority that would give one-third of final decision-making authority to the city, though the City Council has not formally taken action on the supervisors plan.

Under the current plan, Hammond said, final authority would be left to the county.

“The city of Irvine would prefer that land-use jurisdiction be one involving a joint-powers authority where final decision-making would be equal,” Hammond said. “I don’t think we could proceed too much further at this time.”

The cities’ opposition to the county plan has been building for some time, but it seemed to intensify late last week when membership on the proposed commission was disclosed in The Times.

Irvine’s concerns represent just one prong in a three-way split in planning for the base’s future.

Newport Beach, Anaheim and other central Orange County cities are actively campaigning for the conversion of El Toro into a second regional airport for the county, rivaling John Wayne Airport.

But Newport Beach Mayor Clarence J. Turner said that for now the city will re-evaluate its position within the six-city airport coalition known as the Orange County Cities Airport Authority. Besides Newport Beach and Anaheim, the group also includes Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Stanton and Yorba Linda.

County officials, meanwhile, have indicated that they would continue to fight any proposal that does not leave future control of the military installation in county hands.

Both Schneider and Supervisor William G. Steiner affirmed that position Tuesday, saying that there would be no negotiation on “land-use control.”

Steiner said any base reuse plan demanded that decisions be left with county government, and that those decisions would “reflect a regional perspective.”

Supervisor Vasquez, who represented the county Monday at a Defense Department meeting in Washington of U.S. communities facing base closures, said it was important that the county make its “single center of focus” the formation of a “relevant” decision-making body.

“Planning dollars will be made available to those with a plan in place,” Vasquez said Tuesday. “It all comes back to having some structure in place. If there is no structure in place, you go nowhere.”

Nevertheless, supervisors said they would give cities another two weeks to warm to a plan that still gives the county the lion’s share of authority.

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley would serve as commission chairman, with Vasquez as vice chairman. Tuesday, Vasquez said he felt comfortable with the commission’s proposed makeup and probably would not recommend many changes, if any.

Even with tonight’s scheduled meeting with the Office of Economic Adjustment, Schneider said the two-week delay would “not be a problem.” He said the county would be organizing a meeting of all South County representatives on this issue sometime next week in an attempt to hash out differences.

Wednesday night’s meeting involving Defense Department officials is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Auditorium. The meeting is open to the public.