Critics see slippage.
But Michael L. Lapin, the county's El Toro program manager, defended the delay which he said is, in part, necessary to complete a draft environmental impact report for the project. Under the new master schedule, the airport's draft EIR would be released to the public Nov. 19. Air cargo flights were expected to begin this summer but failed to materialize. Both Silva and Chairman Charles V. Smith said that, in the past, the county had target dates for the process, but never relied on a formal project schedule. You can't call it a slip in schedule because these were goals.