Pivotal New El Toro Phase

The Board of Supervisors has a rare opportunity this week to set the derailed El Toro reuse planning process back on track. Considered against all the momentous developments in a seven-year journey, a workshop on Wednesday to discuss alternatives seems modest enough as a setting for big new directions. But in addition to the inevitable option of pressing forward with the big international airport idea, there are two other significant choices that reflect a new reality at El Toro. The supervisors would be foolish not to seize this moment and send a strong signal of intent to begin healing the deep community divisions over base reuse.

One option, pursuing nonaviation uses for the base, elevates the recent work of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority to a much more prominent status. In the past, nonaviation as an alternative has had back-burner status, and begrudgingly so at that. That the supervisors would consider this at all now as a priority is a sign that business as usual is now up for mandatory reevaluation. One way or the other, the nonaviation alternative is going to have to get some serious scrutiny now because of its far-reaching implications on the surrounding community, for the cost it would entail, and for the inevitable effect it would have on John Wayne Airport’s future.

The other remaining option for the workshop is the one that raises an issue very much on our minds through all the initiatives and community wrangling over El Toro. It is the question of whether to disband or reconfigure the planning authority in charge of the base and, presumably, whether to start over.

We once suggested that, more than anything else, the county needed breathing room to conduct an appropriate community discussion for the future of the base, and that it needed to speak with a clearer voice to the federal government about what Orange County would like to see. That observation was made four years ago, when we lamented that El Toro was caught in the grips of ballot-box planning. At that time, the second of the ballot initiatives that moved across the county like a series of disruptive Pacific storms was up for consideration.

The passage of Measure F last month, which required that plans for a new airport at El Toro be submitted for approval by two-thirds of voters, effectively altered the dynamics of the base planning process. The supervisors have allowed themselves the option of moving ahead with a vote on the big airport idea, and then letting the chips fall where they may. There might not be any lasting harm in letting the provisions of Measure F play out with an airport vote next. However, supervisors need to understand clearly that even in the highly unlikely outcome that the current airport plan gathered sufficient support, the bitterness and litigious atmosphere surely would continue unabated.

The supervisors would be well advised to spare the county further anguish over the big international airport idea by deciding now, not later, to reconstitute the base planning authority. Only a newly configured authority can consider the alternatives properly of a nonaviation plan or a much more scaled-down airport proposal.

As we noted recently in calling for a new Local Redevelopment Authority, the federal base reuse guidelines invite the participation of the directly affected communities, and seek their enthusiastic support for a preferred reuse plan. It is unlikely that any scenario for El Toro will play out satisfactorily unless the plan has the backing of those who will be most affected.

The county pro-airport supervisorial majority, without the direct participation of those communities, and in conflict with those that were jettisoned from the original authority, has had plenty of time to sell its big international airport plan. That effort now has to be deemed a failure. The federal government no longer can turn a deaf ear to opponents in the affected cities. It is time for Washington, with the solicitation of local officials and the encouragement of the congressional delegation, to recognize a reconstituted base planning authority. A new authority should have the latitude to consider either a nonaviation plan for the base or a modest-sized airfield that could serve as a reliever for John Wayne Airport.

The workshop and a public hearing set for May 16 make the coming month one of the most crucial in the history of this drama. The supervisors have fumbled before, and they must not mishandle this important chance finally to get it right. To do so, they are going to have to do one of the most difficult things in politics and public life: voluntarily relinquish and share power.