October 5, 1998

Orange County Board of Supervisors
Hall of Administrations, 5th Floor
10 Civic Center Plaza
Santa Ana, CA 92701

RE: Response to County Airport Open Space Plan

Dear Supervisors:

On September 15, 1998 the Board of Supervisors approved the County’s new Airport/Open Space Plan as its preferred reuse plan for MCAS El Toro. At that same meeting, the Board also approved an invitation to ETRPA to make changes in the Millennium Plan, if so desired. The ETRPA Board of Directors wishes to thank the Board of Supervisors for the opportunity to review the Millennium Plan in light of the new Airport/Open Space Plan.

Based on our review, the ETRPA Board did approve one minor change to the Millennium Plan at its September 28, 1998 meeting. After the ETRPA Board approved the Millennium Plan in March, the Orange County Transportation Authority submitted a request for a rail and bus maintenance facility. This request was submitted to both the County Government and ETRPA. The request is reasonable and the County Government has included such a facility in its revised plan. In turn, the ETRPA Board has now modified the Millennium Plan by allocating 50 acres of land for the OCTA facility. Inclusion of the facility is shown in attached Figure 1 and occurs in an area previously identified for entertainment/mixed-use and R&D, adjacent to the rail line, northwest of the regional transportation center.

The ETRPA Board also wishes to emphasize to the Board of Supervisors that development intensity can vary within the overall context of the Millennium Plan. The statistical data regarding outputs and traffic that were included in the original Millennium Plan presentation were based on a maximum intensity build-out of all components of the plan. Obviously, the same plan could be developed at several development intensities and still be feasible. To illustrate this point, statistical summary and detailed data describing land use, economic benefits, and traffic resulting from a lower intensity build-out of the Millennium Plan are presented in the tables included as attachments to this letter.

The maximum intensity build-out and lower intensity build-out provide the range of development intensities likely to be achieved under the Millennium Plan. Because the range of development defined by the maximum and lower intensity build-outs is the best representation of what will likely occur if the Millennium Plan is implemented, the ETRPA Board requests that the Board of Supervisors include both for analysis in the County’s EIR.

Again, the ETRPA Board thanks the Board of Supervisors for the opportunity to submit this additional information on the Millennium Plan. We look forward to your response regarding our request.

Sincerely,

Paul Eckles
Executive Director

Attachments:
Figure 1 – Millennium Plan (with OCTA facility) (Not included in on-line version of letter)
Table 1 – Land Use Summary
Table 2 – Economic Benefits Summary
Table 3 – Traffic Generation Summary
Detailed Tables of Land Use/Traffic and Economic Data (Not included in on-line version of letter)

Click here for more on Millennium Plan original submission.

Table 1

Land Use Summary - Acres

Table 2

Economic Benefits Summary

* The Millennium Plan Lower Intensity Build-out assumes that: a) intensity for Mid-Rise Office will achieve 67% of the Maximum Intensity Build-out (0.6 FAR instead of 0.9 FAR); b) intensity for R&D will achieve 78% of the Maximum Intensity Build-out (0.25 FAR instead of 0.32 FAR); c) intensity for ERT Campus will achieve 70% of the Maximum Intensity Build-out; and intensities/densities of development for all other land use categories in the Millennium Plan remain at the maximum intensity build-out described in Millennium Plan Table 2-4.

Table 3

Traffic Generation Summary