Orange County and Irvine officials appear close to an agreement that would break the final logjam threatening development of the closed El Toro Marine base.
The two have been at odds over how to divide the property tax revenue expected from homes and commercial buildings planned for a portion of the base that Irvine is trying to annex.
In a proposal released Friday, the county would keep 82% of the taxes generated from base development. The county, however, could use the money only to improve its portion of the base property, on which it plans offices and an equipment yard.
County officials feared they would lose tax revenue if Irvine annexed the base land and then formed a redevelopment agency to help provide services to the new neighborhoods. Under state law, cities that form these agencies are allowed to capture all new property tax revenue from that district, as long as it is spent to improve the area.
Supervisor Chris Norby, a longtime critic of redevelopment agencies who questioned the deal with Irvine, said Friday he is satisfied that the county would benefit from the agreement. Using the tax money to pay for county facilities at El Toro would free up other, unrestricted county funds for use elsewhere, he said.
The ramifications are significant.
The Navy, which owns the property, won't allow its sale to private developers until after the land is annexed by Irvine. In a letter sent to county officials last year, the Navy urged county officials to approve the annexation so the property could be sold without delay. The 4,700-acre base closed in July 1999.
Disagreement over the taxes surfaced in April and threatened to hold up the city's plan to take over the property, which Irvine has slated for parkland, sports fields, a university, and homes and commercial buildings.
Tempers flared again this week as several officials for cities in south Orange County urged the Board of Supervisors to approve Irvine's tax-sharing proposal. During debate at the supervisors' meeting, Lake Forest Councilman Peter Herzog accused a supervisor of sneering at him, and Supervisor Chuck Smith criticized Irvine's proposal as a money grab.
The concerns about property tax revenue are not new.
Last year, then-board Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad cast the deciding vote to approve a tax agreement with Irvine, saying she hoped the county would get $800,000 a year in revenue to use for parks in north Orange County.
