Tustin Air Base, Mile Square Park Involved : Supervisors Approve Land Swap With Marine Corps

With Supervisor Don R. Roth objecting because of a lack of information, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday, 4 to 1, for a land exchange that would give the county 137 acres at the center of Mile Square Regional Park now owned by the Marine Corps.

In return, the county would give the Marines 41 acres in two parcels outside the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station that can be used for housing.

There is one potential problem: The county does not own the 41 acres it is planning to swap. But officials said they are prepared to get the land from the Irvine Co. through purchase, exchange or condemnation.

“I am well aware this item has been discussed for years and years by our respective boards of supervisors,” Roth said. But he objected to approving the plan without “some kind of handle” on what it might cost the county.

Roth said he had heard estimates of a cost as high as $30 million for the 41 acres and asked for a delay until more information was forthcoming. When the other supervisors declined to grant the delay, Roth voted against the swap.

Board Chairman Roger R. Stanton, whose district includes the park, noted that his predecessor as 1st District supervisor, Phil Anthony, had started talks with the Marines in 1977. Stanton said there was no need to hold up a memorandum of agreement with the Marines on the land swap until better financial information was available, because price details would be provided eventually, after appraisals and public hearings.

John R. Shaddy of the county’s General Services Agency said it could take years to close the deal, which ultimately must be approved by Congress.

The county owns all the parkland surrounding the Marines’ triangular parcel, which was used as a helicopter training area for years. The Marines stopped the flights after the surrounding area became developed and has leased the land to the county in recent years.

The county is already negotiating with the Irvine Co. to obtain land in Gypsum Canyon for use as a county jail. The Irvine Co. wants the property that now houses a county branch jail near El Toro, which is scheduled to be closed when the Gypsum Canyon jail is finished.