Countywide : Homeless Groups to Join in Bid for Base

Officials of several local homeless groups say they will coordinate their efforts to acquire certain facilities at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station rather than individually stake claims to the 1,600-acre property.

“Because of the enormity of what is available here, a coalition effort would be the best approach,” said Tim Shaw, executive director of the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, a coalition of homeless groups, business owners and public agencies.

Shaw said he was impressed with the base facilities after a two-hour tour conducted Thursday by city and base officials. About three dozen other representatives of homeless groups and nonprofit agencies participated.

The base, established in 1942 to house blimps, is scheduled to close in 1996. Homeless groups are planning to request use of certain facilities under a federal law that gives them first crack at surplus base properties.

The homeless groups are interested in converting base warehouses into possible food storage facilities. They want to use the barracks and Marine housing as shelters, temporary housing or even permanent housing for low-income families.

Officials said the tour was intended to give the homeless groups a firsthand look at the base and an opportunity to evaluate their needs. However, it will take about three years more before a final decision is made on whether the homeless groups will get any part of the facility.

Under a lengthy and complicated process, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ultimately will screen and approve groups seeking to use the base facilities.

“We don’t have any preset notion that we’re going to give certain areas of the base to the homeless,” said Pete Ciesla, a Marine civilian employee who sits on a panel that is drafting a conversion plan for the base.

“But we want to know the interest of the homeless groups so we can incorporate them into the reuse plans,” Ciesla said.

Assistant City Manager Christine Shingleton said that a 17-member task force, which includes members from the base, is currently studying potential uses for the base and has hired a consultant to conduct environmental studies.

A reuse plan is expected to be completed in May, 1994. A final decision on how to dispose of the property will eventually be made by the U.S. Department of the Navy, which owns the property, she said.

Shingleton said the city’s interest is in making the area economically viable while meeting the needs of the community and such groups as the homeless.