[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 82 (Monday, April 29, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20961-20963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-10380]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy


Record of Decision for Disposal and Reuse of the Marine Corps Air 
Station El Toro, Orange County and Irvine, CA

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of record of decision.

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SUMMARY: Under the authority of the Defense Base Closure and 
Realignment Act of 1990, (DBCRA), the Department of the Navy (DON) 
announces its decision to dispose of the former Marine Corps Air 
Station (MCAS) El Toro in a manner consistent with state and local land 
use plans, and in accordance with lawful disposal authorities, 
including public sale. In deciding to dispose of MCAS El Toro, the DON 
has determined that mixed land use is consistent with the Orange County 
General Plan, as recently amended by the passage of the Orange County 
Central Park and Nature Preserve Initiative (Measure W) on March 5, 
2002, and the City of Irvine General Plan. Mixed land use also will 
meet the goals of local economic redevelopment and job creation set out 
in the DBCRA. This Record of Decision (ROD) leaves selection of the 
particular means to achieve redevelopment to the acquiring entity and 
the local zoning authorities.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: MCAS El Toro was closed in July 1999 
pursuant to the DBCRA. The MCAS El Toro property is located within 
central Orange County. The property is being managed by the DON as an 
inactive facility pending a decision regarding disposal and reuse. 
Approximately 424 acres of the MCAS El Toro property are located within 
the corporate boundaries of the city of Irvine. The remaining 4,314 
acres are located within the unincorporated areas of Orange County. The 
existing airfield contains five runways and their associated parallel 
and connecting taxiway systems. The existing development on MCAS El 
Toro is generally clustered around the airfield; there are 
approximately 500 non-residential buildings, 1,188 family housing 
units, and 4,380 bachelor-housing units.
    The DON goal is to help base closure communities achieve economic 
recovery through reuse and redevelopment of the assets at closing 
bases, taking into consideration local market conditions, redevelopment 
plans prepared by the designated Local Reuse Authority (LRA), and local 
land use plans. Thus, the DON has adopted a consultative approach with 
each closure community. As a part of this approach, the base closure 
community's interests, as reflected in its land use plans and zoning 
for the area, play a significant role in determining the range of 
alternatives considered in the environmental analysis for property 
disposal.
    Excluded from this decision are 975-acres of excess property 
located in the northeast portion of MCAS El Toro. The DON transferred a 
905-acre parcel to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 
December 2001 for use as an Airport Surveillance Radar facility and 
wildlife

[[Page 20962]]

habitat reserve. The DON intends to transfer a 70-acre parcel to the 
Department of Justice. These transfers of excess property to other 
federal agencies are independent of the disposal of surplus property 
addressed in this ROD.
    Orange County, as the designated LRA, prepared and adopted a DBCRA 
redevelopment plan for the MCAS El Toro property. The approved DBCRA 
redevelopment plan directed development of the property as a commercial 
airport. The DON prepared an EIS analyzing the impacts of disposal and 
reuse of the MCAS El Toro property. The FAA, as the agency responsible 
for public airport development and operation, participated as a joint 
lead agency in preparation of the Final EIS. The DBCRA requires that 
the DON treat the LRA's redevelopment plan as part of the proposed 
federal action for the installation and that the redevelopment plan be 
given preference. Therefore, from among the several reuse scenarios 
analyzed during the EIS process, the DON and the FAA identified a 
commercial airport alternative as the preferred alternative.
    On March 5, 2002 the voters of Orange County adopted Measure W, an 
amendment to the Orange County General Plan. Measure W voided an 
earlier amendment to the Orange County General Plan that designated the 
property for aviation use and replaced it with a mixed-use, non-
aviation designation that allowed education, park, recreation, 
cultural, and other public oriented uses.
    Passage of Measure W, which limits the use of MCAS El Toro to non-
aviation re-use, prohibits the FAA and the DON from being able to 
consider the preferred alternative identified in the Final EIS. FAA 
therefore at this time has no further role in the decision making 
process for the disposal of MCAS El Toro. That function solely rests 
now with the Department of the Navy.

Alternatives

    The DON analyzed the impacts of five disposal/reuse alternatives 
and a no action alternative. The disposal/reuse alternatives 
represented a range of reasonably foreseeable uses including commercial 
aviation and non-aviation uses. Non-aviation uses were considered 
reasonably foreseeable reuses, notwithstanding the LRA's adoption of a 
commercial aviation redevelopment plan, because reuse of the MCAS El 
Toro property was a controversial topic in Orange County.
    Aviation alternatives were based upon those developed by Orange 
County in its public reuse planning process. The three aviation 
alternatives analyzed in the EIS varied in the type (i.e. passenger or 
cargo) and level of aircraft operations. Each aviation alternative 
includes some mix of non-aviation uses such as commercial, light 
industrial, educational and open space. The Reduced Commercial Airport 
Alternative was identified in the FEIS as the preferred alternative 
because it was based upon a publicly adopted amendment to the Orange 
County General Plan requiring that the MCAS El Toro property be used 
for a commercial airport and related uses.
    Non-aviation alternatives were based upon a mixed land use 
approach. The Business Park Alternative and the Village Park 
Alternative projected different conceptual combinations of residential, 
commercial, light industrial, educational, recreational, and public/
community service uses.
    The ``no action'' alternative would leave the property under DON 
control. Existing agricultural and educational leases would continue 
until they expired. All other leases would be terminated. The area 
would be fenced and buildings would be vacated and sealed. Only 
essential maintenance and security functions would be provided. 
Environmental cleanup would be completed. Because the no action 
alternative has less potential for adverse environmental impacts, it is 
the environmentally preferable alternative. However, the no action 
alternative would not promote local economic development nor create 
jobs and, therefore, is inconsistent with the statutory direction 
contained in the DBCRA.

Significant Environmental Impacts

    For each alternative the DON analyzed the direct, indirect, and 
cumulative impacts of the disposal and reuse of the surplus MCAS El 
Toro property in the following environmental impact categories: Land 
use, Socio-economics; Recreation; Aesthetics; Public Services and 
Utilities; Historic and Archaeological Resources; Biological Resources; 
Topography, Soils and Geology; Hydrology and Water Quality; Hazardous 
Wastes and Materials; Public Health and Safety; Traffic and 
Transportation; Air Quality; and Noise.
    This ROD presents a summary of potentially significant adverse 
impacts associated with the Business Park and Village Park 
alternatives. Both of these alternatives represent mixed land use 
redevelopment that is consistent with the phased, mixed land use 
redevelopment concept approved by Orange County voters when they 
amended the Orange County General Plan through Measure W. Detailed 
discussions for each environmental impact category are contained in 
Chapter 4 of the FEIS. Cumulative impacts are addressed in Chapter 6.
    Redevelopment could adversely affect farmland. Under California's 
Environmental Quality Act, the loss of 660 acres of Prime Farmland is 
considered significant. However, federal standards for evaluating the 
loss of farmlands are derived from the Farmland Protection Policy Act 
(FPPA). The farmland on MCAS El Toro does not have a high enough value 
to warrant protection under the FPPA, so impacts are not considered 
significant.
    Redevelopment could adversely affect about 1.5 acres of surface 
water that is considered ``waters of the United States'' for purposes 
of the Clean Water Act (CWA). These 1.5 acres would be filled or the 
water channeled through concrete structures. Significant adverse 
impacts can be avoided through project design and mitigation measures 
imposed by the Army Corps of Engineers during the CWA Section 404 
permitting process.
    Redevelopment could have significant impacts on traffic. Mixed non-
aviation uses are projected to generate approximately 300,000 to 
340,000 trips per day at build-out. This level of traffic would cause 
substantial delays at up to 35 intersections and four freeway segments. 
Significant impacts could be mitigated through development of a 
transportation demand management program, intersection improvements, 
and construction of additional freeway lanes on Interstates 5 and 405 
in various locations.
    Redevelopment could have significant traffic-related noise impacts. 
An increase in traffic noise levels of as much as 3-4 dB(A) could 
occur. Because the location of traffic-related noise impacts will vary 
depending upon the manner in which mixed non-aviation uses are 
implemented, mitigation measures would have to be identified through 
site-specific noise studies prepared on detailed development proposals 
when those proposals are submitted to County or City officials for 
approval.

Mitigation

    Once property is conveyed outside of federal control, land use is 
solely a function of state and local planning and zoning authorities. 
The DON cannot impose post conveyance restrictions on land use absent 
specific statutory authority to do so such as that provided for the 
imposition of land use controls under CERCLA. As a result, the DON

[[Page 20963]]

has no authority to require that parties acquiring the former MCAS El 
Toro property impose the mitigation measures identified in the FEIS or 
this ROD.

Comments Received on the Final EIS

    Several organizations submitted comments on the FEIS. Most of those 
comments reiterated issues addressed in the response to comments 
included in the FEIS. A few comments identified substantive 
environmental issues not raised earlier in the NEPA process. Those 
comments are addressed below.
    One comment alleged that the analysis was inadequate because it did 
not contain a conformity determination for non-aviation mixed land use. 
The DON disagrees with that allegation. No conformity analysis for 
mixed land use redevelopment is required. Conveyance of federal 
property outside federal control is expressly exempted from the 
conformity provisions of the Clean Air Act and there is no DON 
involvement in post conveyance redevelopment that would require 
conformity analysis.
    Several comments alleged that the analysis was inadequate because 
it failed to address hazardous waste remediation in terms of the mixed 
land use directed by Measure W. The DON disagrees with those 
allegations. The analysis in the EIS addressed impacts associated with 
phased, mixed land use redevelopment such as that directed by measure 
W. CERCLA remedial actions are addressed through an independent process 
that examines alternative remedies based upon reasonably foreseeable 
land uses. State and local governments exercising planning and zoning 
authority have a prominent role in the development of CERCLA remedies. 
DON will impose land use controls where necessary to ensure protection 
of human health and the environment.

Conclusions

    In deciding to dispose of the MCAS El Toro property in a manner 
consistent with state and local land use plans and policies, the 
statutory goals and objectives of the DBCRA in relation to the 
redevelopment of MCAS El Toro, as discussed in the FEIS, were carefully 
considered. The DON reviewed the purpose and need that this proposed 
disposal and reuse action would serve; the alternative means of 
achieving the purpose and need; the environmental impacts of these 
alternatives; the mitigation potentially necessary to preserve and 
enhance the human, cultural, and natural environment; the general costs 
and benefits; and the recent amendments to the Orange County General 
Plan.
    The DON also determined that the mixed non-aviation land uses 
analyzed in the FEIS are similar to those set forth in Measure W. The 
Business Park and Village Park alternatives are conceptual 
redevelopment plans. They addressed general categories of use but, 
because they involved redevelopment over a 20-year period, did not 
contain specific plans or projects. Projecting which specific plans or 
projects could be implemented over the period of such mixed-use 
redevelopment is speculative at best, so analysis of the mixed land use 
alternatives could be done only at the conceptual level. Measure W is 
also a conceptual mixed land use plan. It expressly recognized that 
redevelopment must be accomplished over an extended period of time; 
that specific uses could change during a phased implementation; and 
that phased implementation requires flexibility. Consequently, the DON 
found that the conceptual approach to analysis of phased mixed land use 
alternatives used in the FEIS adequately addresses the phased mixed 
land use now required under the Orange County General Plan as a result 
of the passage of Measure W.
    Finally, the DON considered the effect that Measure W has on the 
aviation reuse plan adopted by Orange County and determined that it was 
not necessary, under the provisions of the DBCRA and the DoD Base Reuse 
Implementation Manual, to delay a decision. The FEIS examined a range 
of disposal/reuse alternatives based upon reasonable assumptions and 
foreseeable reuses as required by NEPA and the BRIM.
    Therefore, on behalf of the DON, we have decided to dispose of the 
former Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro in a manner consistent 
with state and local land use plans, using the lawful authorities 
available to the DON for property disposal.

    Dated: April 23, 2002.
Duncan Holaday,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Facilities).
[FR Doc. 02-10380 Filed 4-26-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P