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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20 UPDATE MCAS REUSE 11-21-94NO. 20 11-21-94 )ATE: NOVEMBER 21, 1994 Inter-Com TO: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER FROM: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT SUSJECI: UPDATE ON MCAS, EL TORO REUSE EFFORTS RECOMMENDATION Pleasure of Council. FISCAL IMPACT None. BACKGROUND This report is prepared to apprise the City Council of some of the most recent developments involving the reuse planning effort for Marine Corp Air Station (MCAS), E1 Toro. Feasibility Study of Civilian Aviation Uses at MCAS, E1 Toro In late October, the E1 Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) released the above referenced Feasibility Study of potential aviation use at MCAS, E1 Toro. The report is one of several documents intended to be developed to analyze various issues and land use scenarios related'to the future reuse of MCAS, E1 Toro. ETRPA has established an E1 Toro Planning Authority Executive Council comprised of approximately 60 members representing the interest of cities, home owners, industry, and others located within the region. The documents prepared were intended to guide the Executive Council in preparing the proposed reuse plans for MCAS, E1 Toro. The focus of the Feasibility Study of Civilian Aviation Uses of MCAS, E1 Toro is to provide an inventory and analysis of existing background information to be used by the consultant and ETRPA in developing an alternative reuse plan supporting the use of the property as an airport. To summarize, the report indicates that MCAS, E1 Toro is physically suitable to reuse as an airport. Economics Advisory Committee To assist the decision making ability of the larger ETRPA, five sub-committees were established to evaluate issues and proposals City Council Report Update on MCAS, E1 Toro Reuse Efforts November 21, 1994 Page 2 for land use related to MCAS, E1 Toro. The five committees include an Economics Advisory Committee to which a representative of the City of Tustin (Councilman Jeff Thomas) has been appointed. The purpose of the Economics Advisory Committee is to ensure that reuse proposals presented to the ETRPA Executive Council have been analyzed to be feasible from an economic standpoint. Each of the five sub-committees were recently in the process of developing goals and criteria by which each proposal will be measured. Board of Supervisors Withdrawal from ETRPA On November 15, 1994, the Orange County Board of Supervisors officially voted to withdraw from the E1 Toro Reuse Planning Authority by December 31st, 1994. ETRPA had been formed to provide an opportunity for a multi-jurisdictional review and eventual support of a variety of at least three reuse plans for the base. With the recent passage of Measure A (mandating that an airport be the reuse at MCAS, E1 Toro), and the fact that Office of Economic Adjustment funding to ETRPA was on a quarterly basis (expected to expire at the end of December 1994), the County seems to be moving toward the development of a single reuse plan supporting an airport. It is expected that the County may move to develop a new planning body to guide the reuse effort at MCAS, E1 Toro ('see attached article). If this were to occur, it is anticipated that the ETRPA Executive Board (County of Orange, City of Irvine, and City of Lake Forest), the Executive Council, and its supporting sub-committees (including the Economics Advisory Committee noted above) will be disbanded. Staff has learned that both the cities of Irvine and Lake Forest (co-members of the ETRPA Executive Board) are concerned with the County's unilateral decision on this issue and will be working to re-establish the County's interest in ETRPA and the multi- jurisdictional planning effort. CONCLUSION In the event that the County moves toward the establishment of a new planning authority, staff believes it to be in the best interest of the community to participate in that effort. The City Council might want to delay any formal position on this given the current volatile response of many cities to the County's recent actions. Any move now to support the County's efforts in this City Council Report Update on MCAS, E1 Toro Reuse Efforts November 21, 1994 Page 3 regard may be viewed as the City of Tustin's rejection of ETRPA and its multi-jurisdictional participatory goals. Dana Ogdon ~ Senior Planner DO: kd: kkxn\CCRE POR T\e [ t o to- 2. do Christine n Assistant City ~4anager Board Expected to Exit E1 To.ro.:- Planning Panel .: · · · Development: Supervisors' .-. vote today on withdrawal from.. the reuse agency would be in keeping with Measure A requirement tO plan for a commercial airport at base. By H.G. REZA TIMES STAFF WRITER SANTA ANA--The Orange County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote today to withdraw from the agency charged with establishing a development plan for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, leaving in doubt how building an airport there will proceed, The supervisors are expected to approvq. a recommendation by County Adminig~o' tire Officer grnie Schneider that they notify the El Toro Reuse Planning AuthOr~2 · ity--the official agency charged with drawing up a base conversion plan--that the county will pull out by Dec. 31. Sources familiar with Schneider's-rec- 'ommendation said the supervisors are'0nly expected to vote on the-recommendation to withdraw .and will not debate any option~_ to replace the planning authority. Instead, supervisors have agreed to develop a.r/ew planning agency for the base before .the end of the year. The new agency would have to sa-'.ti~.f~ the Pentagon's requirement for commmty input in any development plan, ~,hile complying with voter-approved Measure A, which obligates the county to bufl~l'a commercial airport at El Toro, assumihg it takes over the property when the Marines leave by 1999. The question asked by some observers Monday was what will happen to-the Please see EL TOR0~. B5 ~°"ntinued fr~m B1 r~e-member El Toro Reuse Plan'- r~' Authority board if the five rvisors withdraw, leaving members from Irvine and ~ from Lake Forest as the only r]~entatives. .~he Planning agencyhas been ~king with the Pentag°n ..for' v.~rly eight-months and is' the official body recognized by Depart- ment of Defense officials to devel-' op~a reuse plan for the base. i-trvine City Councilman Barry J. 'I-I~*q~nmond said the supervisors wo/fld be acting in bad faith if they abandon the planning agency. Un- der normal circumstances, the -Board of Supervisors Would be' solely responsible for developing the Marine base, but the Pentagon demanded that .Irvine and Lake Forest be included in the planning l~rocess, .becau,~ they would be directly affected by any develop- rhent plan. : "The. board never wanted any- ' ~body else involved in the planning process. The only reason we got ihvolved is because the Pentagon. .refused to give the county status and funds for planning unless Ir - ,)inc. and Lake Forest also had input,': Hammond saicL ' Although 'Hammond seemed re- ~med to the breakup of the plan- fling agencY, he said there could still be a role for it. Measure A, which ,county voters approved last week, requires that the county establish a 13-member El Toro Airport Citizens Advisory Commission. Hammond merged with the planning authority as the official airport plan- , '~l~hey [El Toro Reuse Planning Authority] could change the land- use design to 'airport,' and use the 13-member group to create an airport use plan. This could meet the ..Department of Defense's re- quirement for community involve- ment,'' Hammond said. · Dan Miller,.executive director of the El Toro Reuse Planning Au- thority, said 'the supervisors'.'Dec. 31 deadline for withdrawing from the planning agency wOuld give them "some breathing room to decide whether to. keep the ETRPA board as it is or modify its duties." "The problem is that .you have the initiative [Measure A] that spells out certain things and spe-_ cific guidelines from the [Penta- gon],': Miller said. "The board will have to figure out how to go from ETRPA to a new advisory panel called for by Measure A without disrupting the .planning proceeds already in place and keep it ' smooth transition." Lt. Brad Bartelt, a Marih~ spokesman, said the military worked well with the E1 Toro Reuse planning Authority:' How- ever, he added that' the military "will continue to work very closely with the recognized reuse authori- ty established by the county." "It's within their jurisdiction to pick a planning group, but it's too early to tell what's going to happen at our end," Barter said.' "The only thing I can say for sure' is' that they will have'to ./-e. apply, for funding [from the Pentagon for planning studies]." The planning study for El Toro was expected to cost about $2.2 million prior to the passage of Measure A. The Pentagon. has already given the planning author- ity about $740,000 to. pay for costs incurrec~, through December.