Orange County's "Great Park" -The Voters' Alternative To El Toro Airport - Is Taking Shape

Tom, the long running battle to convert the El Toro Marine Base into an important airport for the region alongside of LAX failed, and the Great Park concept prevailed. Before we move on to the development plans for that property, give us an insight into the motivations and the politics that led to those two developments-the failure of the conversion of the airfield for commercial aviation use and the victory of the Great Park with the voters.

Of course it was a long, long battle here in Orange County, and it was one that preoccupied the agenda throughout the county for a long time. Obviously, the airport proposal was led by the Board of Supervisors in their role representing the whole county, and supported largely by Newport Beach because of their concerns with a possible future expansion of John Wayne Airport. The proposal supported the land to be used as a commercial airport and that airport plan ran into the types of neighborhood resistance experienced by any city that surrounds an airport throughout the region. Nobody likes to see airports expanded, and certainly nobody wants to see a major commercial airport expanded right in the midst of their own community.

Having worked with the community immediately adjacent to El Toro when it was used as a military base, the community was subject to the rules of the military, which gave them certain over-flights restrictions that they were able to define. So there's a lot of history of the residents of the area working with the city and the Marine Corps on the usage of the property. However, proposing to convert the site from a military base to a commercial airport ran into strong opposition in Irvine and throughout the county.

With the fact that Orange County residents rely on LAX and Ontario as their airports of choice, did the question of shared burden of responsibility come into play?

Everybody recognizes the importance of Los Angeles, particularly when it comes to international travel, for all of Southern California. Today, of course, not only do Orange County residents rely on John Wayne for a lot of domestic flights, but increasingly now, they are using Long Beach and Ontario. As you know, John Wayne and Long Beach both have limitations on their use-people in those communities are protecting maximum use restrictions for both of those. And the county, in previous elections over the last few years, has supported the idea of considering El Toro for an airport. However, the idea that captured the imagination of the county and ultimately won out over the airport proposal was the Great Park concept. So, the Great Park came forward to overturn the previous general plan amendment by the county.

Tom, let's turn to the Great Park. As the El Toro base gets ready for development and the realization of the Great Park, what kinds of government structures have been set up to guide and direct this process? Who's participating?

The Navy, in a record of decision some time ago, essentially changed its criteria once they recognized that the base wasn't going to be used for an airport. Then, the city of Irvine approached the Navy and found that the Navy decided that they were not willing give the property away, which they would have done for an airport. Instead, the Navy decided to sell the land with an open bid process set up by GSA. The Navy now is set to make four separate sales of property to up to four different developers. The developers in turn would enter into a development agreement with the city, such that those parcels will be developed in accordance with an overall master plan that's been adopted by the city of Irvine. That's all been completed. The annexation of the property has been completed by the city of Irvine, and approved by the LAFCO. So, the next step is for the individual bidders, who have received invitations to bid, to come forward and begin to make bids on the property. At some point, the Navy would select the final four bidders and begin to enter into escrow for that property.

Elaborate a bit more on that criteria for selection of the developers.

I don't know that I've heard anything other than who's willing to pay the Navy the most money. Frankly, I haven't heard anything else from the Navy indicating that they care much about anything other than money.

As a regional venture, share with our readers how the various local governments are going to have influence on this project. Talk a little bit about Irvine and the others cities. What is their interest in this development? How will this be managed?

The city of Irvine's most recent action to begin the implementation of the plan, or be in a position to implement once the sales are made, was to form a separate nonprofit corporation, which is governed by all five members of the Irvine City Council and four outside members. The purpose of that corporation will be to award contracts, build the infrastructure, work with the developers in terms of what alternatives they may suggest as they go into the actual development. At the moment, everybody's working under a very broad general plan designation that lays out the areas that are open space, cemetery, golf course, residential, sports park. I would suspect it's going to be at least 90 days before anybody is really going to have a full understanding of who those developers are. However, everything in the overall project is all subject to the limitations placed on the use of the property, as outlined in the EIR, and that would include primarily all the infrastructure items.

And the programming of the park? I know I'm jumping ahead and asking you to project and guess, but how do you think this park is likely to be programmed?

I don't think there really is a clear plan for that. The Great Park Conservancy has been formed, and I happen to be on the board now, to tackle this very issue. This was a parallel, independent organization that is attempting to reach out and draw together a lot of people around the county to get their view as to how this project should work in the broadest regional sense, as distinguished from being just a park for the city of Irvine. That remains to be seen, in my opinion. It's going to take some work to get the county of Orange to be supportive and to work carefully with the city on the implementation of the master plan.

The Irvine Company is dedicating some 50,000 acres north of El Toro to be set aside as a very wild and pristine area of Southern California habitat. There's also all of the property that's been worked on and been dedicated over the years through the Laguna Green Belt and everything that's been set aside on the Irvine coast. So, you have the makings of, at least potentially, some important regional open space. And, at the center of that is the Great Park. There's a great opportunity to do something special here with the Great Park.

Tom, give us a sense of what our readers can expect over the next year or two. What are the benchmarks of activity that they ought to be paying attention to?

The most important event is when the actual selection of the developers occurs. There is a development timeline on the cities web site that will keep your readers informed. There are some very important milestones. The most important one is going to be the sale, where the developer will be able to enter into a formal agreement between the developer and the city over the development of each parcel. Once you make those sales, then the Navy gets its funds. In addition, funds will begin to be paid to the city of Irvine by the developer. This will allow the city to begin the actual demolition of the runways. That's probably going to be about two years off, and it's about a five-year process to remove the runways that are out there. And then, within the next 24 months, we should begin to see the formulation of specific plans for the various parks, which include the sports park, museum district, etc.

Tom, what role are you currently playing and what role are you likely to play in the civic life of Orange County and this Great Park going forward?

I'm not going to be playing much of a role. I'm on the board of the Great Park Conservancy, which is seeking to work with the Great Park Corporation, which has the responsibility to actually build this park. Under the Conservancy we hope to bring together people in the community and to provide them an opportunity to approach the city with their thoughts and ideas as to how this property should be used. So, I'm going to do what I can to help in that process.