Supervisors to Vote on El Toro Contracts

The Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday at a special 8 a.m. meeting on three contracts worth $11.3 million for planning and publicizing reuse plans for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station when the Marines leave the base in 1999.

The largest contract, for $6.9 million, is expected to go to a consortium of companies to prepare a master plan for John Wayne Airport and El Toro as dual commercial airports for Orange County. Another contract, for $3.9 million, will be awarded to a second group of companies to develop a specific plan for the base.

The third, and most controversial, contract is for $467,230 for a public-information program through Nelson Communications Group of Irvine. Opponents of a commercial airport argue the money will be spent on a propaganda campaign to counteract opposition to an airport by south-county residents.

Supervisors will approve the contracts sitting as the Local Redevelopment Agency. The money will come from airport operating funds, collected from landing fees and other airport-related charges, and a Federal Aviation Administration grant.

Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson said he’s concerned about assumptions implicit in all three contracts that El Toro will be developed as a commercial airport.

Despite two countywide votes affirming the new use, South County representatives--including Wilson and Supervisor Todd Spitzer--oppose turning El Toro over to commercial flights.

Wilson said he hopes to have a fourth contract proposal before supervisors by Aug. 5 involving a nonaviation use for the base prepared by a coalition of South County cities. He said he will ask for a special meeting to consider that proposal.

The county’s El Toro meetings usually are held at 5:30 p.m. But Tuesday’s meeting had been postponed from June and was scheduled to begin in advance of the regular 9:30 a.m. board meeting.