FOUNTAIN VALLEY : One Final Landing for the Marines

Capping 15 years of negotiations with a lease-burning ceremony, the Marine Corps on Friday turned over 137 acres in the center of Mile Square Regional Park to the county.

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, who has spearheaded efforts to keep the Marine Corps from developing the land as housing since his days as mayor of Fountain Valley, said that the years of tenacious negotiations had finally paid off.

“I think we reached an equitable deal. We realize the Marines needed land for housing, and they realized we needed to keep this area as open space,” Stanton said.

Under the deal, the county purchased 41 acres adjacent to the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin from the Irvine Co. for $33 million and swapped it for the park land, said Col. Leonard Fuchs, a Marine Corps spokesman.

“It works really well for us because now that housing is attached to the base,” Fuchs said.

The Marine Corps had owned much of the land that is now Mile Square Regional Park since World War II and used it as a training area.

In 1973, the county was given the land surrounding a triangular array of three airstrips, which were converted into a helicopter landing area.

In 1974, the Marine Corps ceased using the landing pad and leased the area to the county for $1 annually.

Since then, the area has been intensely used by hobbyists flying remote-control model airplanes and rockets and “land-sailing” enthusiasts riding wind-powered vehicles. There are no other immediate plans for the area.

Friday morning’s celebration was kicked-off by the landing of a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter, the last that will use the landing pad.

The transport helicopter is one of the largest and most powerful in the Marine Corps fleet, and it was opened to the public for about an hour during the ceremony.