Sounding Board -- Rep. Chris Cox

Joseph N. Bell (The Bell Curve, “The Game’s Not Over on El Toro

Airport,” Thursday) makes a serious mistake to suggest that the Navy

intends to avoid the zoning requirements legislated in Measure W.

Selling the base property -- through a General Services Administration

auction -- will end its status as federal property. Like all local

property, it will be subject to local zoning. The zoning applicable to

the former base property is Measure W.

That means that any buyer must use the property mostly for parkland

and open space, with only those supplementary uses permitted by Measure

W.

The only consequence of selling the property, rather than giving it

away, is that a sale will put money in the Base Closure Fund.

Since the taxpayers have already paid more than $1 billion in shutdown

and relocation expenses for Tustin and El Toro, getting something in

return for this valuable Defense Department asset makes common sense as

we fight the war on terrorism.

After all, base closure was supposed to save the Pentagon money, not

waste it.

Bell is even more wrong to imply that the Navy had a premeditated plan

to avoid compliance with Measure W. At my urging and that of our other

local elected officials, the Pentagon has stated explicitly and

repeatedly that it would honor the results of the countywide vote on

Measure W.

In fact, the Navy had two press releases prepared for Wednesday

morning after the election -- one for an airport and one for non-aviation

uses.

Had Measure W failed, the Navy would have moved with an alacrity never

seen during the Clinton Administration to build an airport there.

It was Orange County that made this decision, not Washington, and that

is as it should be.

* CHRIS COX is the U.S. Representative for Newport Beach.