How Tustin Base Made Closing List : Military: Orange County’s rapid growth and high land costs persuaded the Pentagon to recommend closing the helicopter station.

Orange County’s dramatic growth and the accompanying explosion in real estate values were the key factors that led to the Pentagon’s recommendation to close the 50-year-old Marine Corps Air Station at Tustin, according to an official analysis of the decision.

The construction of hundreds of homes, offices and industrial facilities on land surrounding the 1,680-acre helicopter base has so compromised its military mission that Tustin is now ranked as the least valuable of the nation’s eight domestic Marine Corps Air Stations, the Defense Department said.

At the same time, the value of the base property, estimated by the Pentagon at $500 million, makes the facility a prime candidate for commercial development, military officials concluded. Moving the CH-46 and CH-53 medium and heavy-lift helicopters now based at Tustin to the Marine Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms will save an estimated $30 million a year, according to the Defense Department.

“The long-run redevelopment of Tustin could probably add considerably to the local tax rolls,” said one Marine Corps official, who asked not to be named. Federal property generally is not subject to local property taxes. “Overall,” the official said, “it’s probably favorable for the region at large, which is not to say that some people will not be upset.”

The official said the Marine Corps will seek to dispose of about 1,200 acres of base property, retaining base housing for use by families stationed at the nearby El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and probably turning over Tustin’s recruitment center to the U.S. Army.

The Pentagon’s suggestion that the Tustin base might find better use as commercial or residential property was not lost on local congressmen.

“According to the information released today, the military mission of the Corps will be enhanced . . . and at the same time it appears that the civilian tax base will be immediately improved,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), whose 40th Congressional District includes the base.

Cox noted, however, that he will not take a final position on the proposed closure until he has had time to “satisfy myself that the economics make sense, that the national security is protected and that our communities surrounding the base are likewise protected.”

The Defense Department analysis concluded that “Tustin was graded lowest in military value because surrounding urban growth is causing incremental reductions in mission capability. Both the air station proper and air space used by low-flying helicopters are being encroached on by urbanized areas.”

For years, residents of the burgeoning neighborhoods surrounding the Tustin base have complained about noise generated by the helicopters, which make about 2,000 trips a year over Irvine alone.

In addition, the analysis said, the buildings at Tustin are aging, and its original mission as a base for submarine-observation blimps limits its potential for future use. One problem, officials said, is that the base is too small for construction of the long runways that would be required to accommodate fixed-wing, military aircraft.

The Tustin base’s most striking feature--two giant blimp hangars that measure 178 feet high, 297 feet wide and 1,088 feet long--also contribute to the facility’s maintenance costs.

According to an article published last year in Leatherneck, a publication of the Marine Corps Assn., the Corps spends $1 million each year just to maintain the hangars, which were built of wood because of wartime steel shortages. The wood construction means that each bolt in the massive structures must be carefully torqued by hand at least once a year. The hangars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Pentagon concluded that closing the Tustin base would not only save money for the military but could offer financial benefits to Orange County.

“The same factors that limit its military value provide . . . Tustin with an unusually high civil value for redevelopment,” the Defense Department said. “Adjacent finished lots have sold for in excess of $1 million an acre, making a high-value sale of . . . Tustin more likely than most locations.”

The closure would affect about 7,400 military and civilian jobs, directly and indirectly, the Pentagon concluded. However, that would represent less than 1% of total employment in the Orange County statistical metropolitan area, producing a far less serious impact than most base closings, military officials said.

Under the National Defense Authorization Act approved last year by Congress, the independent Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission has until July 1 to act on the base-closure recommendations made by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. The commission is required to hold hearings before it makes its decision.

The commission’s final list would then be forwarded to President Bush, who has two weeks to accept or reject the list of closures. The President then sends the list to Congress, which has 45 days to consider it. Congress must vote on the entire list, and cannot remove specific bases from consideration.

If Congress approves closing the Tustin base, the property would be disposed of by the secretary of defense, acting for the General Services Administration. The laws governing disposal of excess federal property are complex, a Marine Corps spokesman said. Generally, however, legislation provides that the government must first offer other federal agencies an opportunity to make use of some of the property, and then afford the same opportunity to state and local governments.

The Marine Corps would hope, however, to sell much of the Tustin property on the commercial market, the official said.