"Future of Decommissioned Naval Base Has Southern California in Conflict"

Wednesday, June 18, 2003

Future of Decommissioned Naval Base Has Southern California in Conflict
Bond Buyer - The American Banker


SAN FRANCISCO, Los Angeles officials' efforts to transform a decommissioned
Navy base into a commercial regional airport have met resistance from Orange
County residents, who voted last year to develop the property using an
overall plan that calls for parkland, a museum, and business and residential
areas.

Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, said the
Orange County plan to reuse the former El Toro airport base is a done deal,
while Los Angeles' commercial airport concept will not fly.

"To put an airport in one of the most densely populated areas that has a
severe housing shortage makes no sense," Waters said. The reuse authority is
a joint-powers agency formed by 10 Orange County cities.

Los Angeles deputy mayor Troy Edwards begs to differ.

"This land hasn't been auctioned off yet," Edwards said this week. "There
still is an opportunity to take a look at it."

The controversy flared recently after news accounts reported that Edwards
sent a 37-page memo in April to the U.S. Department of Transportation
concerning El Toro. Edwards' memo suggested that the department purchase the
property from the Navy and lease it to Los Angeles. The memo went on to
propose that Los Angeles World Airports, the city's aviation authority,
lease the land from the city and operate a regional commercial airport.

Edwards also sent the "road map" to other agencies and congressional leaders
in California, he said

A wave of support for the airport -- and outcry against it -- has since
erupted.

"We are concerned that another jurisdiction would secretly go behind the
backs of Orange County and try to persuade the federal government to take
over the land," said Dan Jung, director of strategic programs for Irvine,
where part of the base is located.

Documents associated with the passage of Measure W last year stated that
reusing the property for parks or cultural purposes could have
infrastructure costs of $353 million, for which up to $153 million in debt
could be sold, according to Jung.

The Orange County Regional Airport Authority, a group representing 14 cities
in the county, last week sent a letter to federal transportation officials
stating that "it is time to rise above local selfish interest and do the
right thing for the greater good of the southern California
region,"according to published reports.

In addition, Sen. Ken Murray, D-Los Angeles, is expected to introduce a
resolution in the state Senate this week supporting the proposed airport.

"People don't want an airport in their neighborhood, but now one airport the
El Toro facility does exist ," Murray said. "There are some negatives to
being near an airport, but you can't say, 'I don't want an airport.'
Everyone has to take a fair share of the negative."

Reusing El Toro, which closed in the late 1990s, makes sense because it
already has runways, fuel tanks, and other features that make it prime
property for a commercial aviation site, he said.

The base comprises 4,738 acres, approximately 440 of which are within
Irvine's boundaries. The balance of the property is in unincorporated area,
which Irvine officials intend to annex in keeping with Measure W.

"Hopefully, the Local Agency Formation Commission will act on the project at
the end of October or November, at which time the Navy will auction it off,"
Jung said.

Chief Lieut. Cmdr. Pauline Storum, a Navy spokeswoman, said local and
federal governments will determine the use of the land.

"We are going to dispose of that property, and the course is public auction,
and who buys it obviously is the developer, developing it with current city
zoning laws," Storum said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation would not confirm or
deny receipt of a letter from Los Angeles regarding the use of El Toro.

"This is a local issue," said Bill Moseley, the department's aviation
expert.

But Los Angeles International is an international facility, and Waters, of
the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, doubts that carriers would serve El
Toro, because they would likely be unable to capture a sizeable market
share. In addition, since El Toro is surrounded by mountains, jumbo-jet
flights would be unsafe, she said.

Waters also said the FAA determined that flights from a commercial facility
at El Toro would cause gridlock at other area airports.

Donn Walker, an FAA spokesman, said an agency report issued in 2001
concluded that the El Toro facility is safe for commercial flight use, but
added that certain flight patterns would be more efficient than others
concerning noise concerns.

The Southern California Association of Governments projects that by 2025,
Los Angeles International Airport and its regional hubs --located in
Burbank, Van Nuys, and Ontario -- will have a shortage of capacity to serve
the area's anticipated 50 million annual passengers. The most obvious
solution is El Toro, Edwards said.

To take El Toro off of the radar and tear up its runways is inconsistent
with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta's call for more aviation
facilities, he said.

"It is incumbent upon all of us to remember that LAX serves over 70% of the
region's air traffic, and bears the burden for the entire region," Los
Angeles' Edwards said. "LAX brings tremendous economic vitality, but you can
imagine it is clearly inefficient ... to residents who live around the
airport not to have the support from other airports of the region."


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