El Toro Marine Corps Air Station

About 90 Police Explorers graduated Monday from the Orange County Law Enforcement Explorer Academy held at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station over the weekend. The four-day program, held twice each year and staffed with volunteers, is for male and female Explorers ranging from 14 to 20 years in age who want a career in law enforcement or related fields, said Janie Walker, academy director and police reserve officer for the Costa Mesa Police Department.

In Southern California, there's nothing like a very large piece of real estate to cause discord. And the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is nothing if not a large piece of real estate. Ever since the military decided to unload the base in the 1990s, Orange County residents have been bickering over what to do with the land, and the decision in 2005 to turn it into the Great Park hasn't ended the conflict. But first the history. Even before the military moved out, county residents divided into two bitterly opposing camps: those who supported using the site for a commercial airport and those who envisioned it as a vast and impressive park.

The Navy is studying the possibility that some naval and Marine Corps bases scheduled to be closed could be kept open by showing Congress that the military installations are vital to national defense or that closing them would be too expensive. In a June 1 Navy memo, base commanders were told that they are welcome to "propose changes to the previously approved . . . base recommendations of the . . . (congressionally appointed) commissions."

Southern California environmental groups have criticized an attempt by the FBI to build a permanent shooting range on land near the retired El Toro Marine base that once was designated to become part of a national wildlife refuge. The land -- which has been used as a temporary training facility by the FBI since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- was included in a 1996 agreement that created a 37,000-acre nature reserve stretching from the Santa Ana Mountains to the Orange County coast.

For three years, Steve Stavrakakis has flown a jet in the El Toro Air Show and enjoyed a special camaraderie with other pilots whose steel nerves and split-second timing have made the event a thrilling tradition for 47 years. This year, however, is the final show at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which is closing in 1999. "I hate to see it happen," Stavrakakis, 39, said, adding that the Marines are "like a family to us."

Laguna Niguel City Councilman Thomas W. Wilson was selected Wednesday to succeed Marian Bergeson as Orange County's 5th District supervisor, and he immediately vowed to fight the conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport, the county's most divisive issue. "Many of my constituents want me to vote 'no,' " said the 56-year-old retired Rockwell International aerospace engineer. "I am going to work diligently on their behalf to keep [an airport] from happening."

The City Council has voted 4 to 1 to support cargo operations as an interim use of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station when the military base closes in July. Councilwoman Patricia L. Bortle opposed supporting the resolution at a recent meeting. Orange County supervisors have approved allowing interim uses, including cargo flights.

Continuing its fight against commercial flights at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the City Council this week unanimously adopted a resolution opposing interim air cargo operations. The council will forward its resolution to the "Big 6" air cargo carriers and the Department of the Navy.

The City Council will receive a status report on reuse plans for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station at the meeting tonight. Laguna Niguel is one of seven cities in the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a group opposed to plans to develop a commercial airport when the military retires the base. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 27841 La Paz Road. Information: (949) 362-4300.

Residents living near the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station can expect an increase in aircraft noise Wednesday, a Marine spokeswoman said. Jets from the base will be participating in night training exercises in the area, she said. An increase in the noise level is expected between 8 a.m. and midnight. The spokeswoman said that aircraft exercises such as this, along with the increase in noise, occur periodically and are routine.

When the work crews started pulling down the old buildings and barracks at the closed El Toro Marine base, they expected to find old appliances, faucets and hardware that, if they were lucky, might be worth salvaging. But the unexpected turned up: a painting of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, mess hall recipes calling for pounds of butter for shortbread cookies, faded photographs and street signs bearing the names of fabled military battles such as Inchon and Midway.

Orange County's Great Park, envisioned as a dramatic landscape of man-made lakes, streams and a rugged canyon in the middle of suburbia, will cost more than $1 billion to create. The new estimate, revealed during a park board study session last week, reflects costs of the park's updated design. The original estimate was far less than $1 billion. The facility, which will be built on the former El Toro Marine Base, would be one of the largest urban parks in the nation.

It will be taps for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station when the curious and the sentimental gather today for a final salute to the base that was closely identified with Orange County for more than half a century. Tours will be available between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for those who want to take a last look before the base is demolished. About 2,000 people, including former Marines once stationed there, are expected at the free event.

Four of the five Irvine City Council members leave today for an all-expense-paid, nine-day trip to Barcelona, Paris and New York City as part of their role in planning a 1,000-acre park at the former El Toro Marine base. The cost of the trip is still being calculated, but the itinerary includes two nights at the five-star Grand Marina Hotel in Barcelona. Traveling are seven members of the Orange County Great Park Corp.

The closed El Toro Marine base officially became private property Tuesday as Lennar Corp., which won the 3,700-acre former military airfield in an auction in February, closed escrow with the Navy. The nation's third largest home builder also signed a development agreement with the city of Irvine, which annexed the base in 2003 and named its redevelopment plan the Orange County Great Park.

A Colorado recycling company was chosen Thursday to demolish the runways at the former El Toro Marine base, marking yet another step toward redevelopment of the 3,700-acre facility. Recycled Materials Co. -- based in Arvada, Colo. -- will soon begin negotiations with the Orange County Great Park Corp., a nonprofit firm created by Irvine to oversee public-use construction at the former Marine base, city officials said.

A local association of professional planners has voted to honor a plan that envisions alternatives to aviation at the soon-to-be-vacated El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The Orange County chapter of the American Planning Assn. recognized the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority's Millennium Plan at an awards ceremony earlier this month. Members of the chapter include planners from public, private and academic settings.

A former Irvine Co. executive resigned abruptly Friday from the public corporation overseeing redevelopment of the closed El Toro Marine base, saying the Orange County Great Park board suffered from wasteful spending and muddled priorities. Richard G. Sim, instrumental in building the Irvine Spectrum business and shopping complex, spent 18 months on the nine-member board and was the only member with experience in large-scale development.

With the for-sale sign removed at the former El Toro Marine base in Irvine, the new owner shifted its focus Thursday from development rights to last rites. Having won possession of the 3,718-acre base and facing the task of redeveloping it, home builder Lennar Corp. took at least one small step Thursday. It reached an agreement with a cemetery developer to build a 74-acre resting place off Irvine Boulevard, as requested by Irvine officials.