Little Bit of Poland for Tustin? : Base reuse: European village idea is rejected by planners. Top three options include housing, shops and perhaps a movie studio.

In trying to decide how to transform the Tustin Marine helicopter base into an attractive, “fiscally sound” community, there was no shortage of ideas.

One group proposed dangling wind-powered generators beneath helium-filled balloons. Another suggested an American history-themed amusement park. A cultural group named for the late actress Helena Modjeska asked for the creation of a Polish village. And the classroom-short Santa Ana Unified School District requested space to build a new high school.

But those ideas, along with many others, did not make it into the top three redevelopment plans for the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. Instead, look for new houses, shops, and maybe even Orange County’s first motion picture studio.

After more than a year of surveying, studying, and dreaming up schemes for how to convert the 1,620-acre military base to civilian use, planners have conceived three broadly outlined redevelopment plans that are scheduled to be unveiled and discussed Tuesday.

“This is not locked in concrete,” Tustin Councilwoman Leslie Anne Pontious said of the preferred option. “It will simply give us direction so we can start focusing. These are concepts, like a piece of paper that will help us set direction.”

While the three plans are similar in design--differing primarily in the number of acres set aside for future development and for new housing--the “preferred” plan calls for construction of 4,225 new residential units; a 150-acre golf course; a 103-acre park and cultural center, perhaps like San Diego’s Balboa Park; and a 30-acre school site for the Tustin Unified School District.

The Orange County Department of Education also wants to develop educational and housing facilities for handicapped and non-handicapped students.

Commercial uses could include a motion picture studio, discount stores or malls, a hotel, and other recreational facilities. One group has suggested converting one of the base’s historic blimp hangars into an indoor ski facility--an expensive proposition, given the high maintenance cost for the giant wooden structures.

“If (the developer) is willing to come up with the money to pay for it, that might make sense,” Tustin Councilman Jeff Thomas said Friday.

Given the ongoing political dispute among city and county officials over who will ultimately control planning for the conversion of the neighboring El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Thomas lauds the progress made at Tustin, which was first placed on the closure list two years ago.

“Look at us, compared to what’s happening at El Toro,” Thomas said. “There’s no fighting; there’s no arguing here.”

Planning for conversion of the 51-year-old Tustin base had to take into account several complex issues, such as traffic constraints around the site, environmental cleanup of soil in the core area of the base, and how to make use of the two gigantic blimp hangars that were built on the base during World War II and which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

And an overriding concern for planners was how to use the facility to jump-start the local economy, still suffering from the recession.

“The present market is gaining some strength for new (upper- and middle-income) residential properties,” said Dave Wilcox, an economics consultant working on the project. “There was a recognition that we probably cannot fill up the entire site with glass (office) buildings, because the (commercial) market is saturated.”

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If the community plan is approved as suggested, a previous report estimated the land could reach a value of between $386 million and $611 million by 1998, excluding the 1,500 military housing units now on the base.

But officials also caution the plan could change if federal agencies decide to set aside some of the land for “public” uses, such as housing for the homeless or additional educational facilities.

The Santa Ana school district, for example, had its request for 75 acres rejected by the Tustin planning committee, because conversion of the base would “not directly generate any new students in Santa Ana Unified School District.”

But Mike Vail, the district’s facilities director, said that decision will be challenged.

“Santa Ana Unified is one of the fastest growing school districts in the state, and we’re in a heavily urbanized area where little land is available,” Vail said. “About 160 acres of the base is within our school district, including the 75 acres we requested. And, yes, we’re still going to seek that land. We’re going to the federal authorities, who have to make the final decision.”

A separate proposal by a coalition of school districts, headed by Rancho Santiago Community College District, requested land for several regional training centers, such as for the health care industry and international business. Other coalition members include the Orange County Department of Education, Santa Ana Unified School District, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Saddleback Community College District.

The consultants said most of the coalition’s ideas could be incorporated into the preferred plan, although they specifically rejected the educators’ proposal to build regional training centers for firefighters and police officers.

A decision on whether to set aside housing for the homeless may not be made by the federal government for at least a couple of years, Tustin officials said. The 1987 McKinney Act allows nonprofit groups that provide services to the homeless to apply for the free use of all or parts of surplus military properties.

A 17-member panel--made up of elected and appointed officials from Tustin, Santa Ana, Irvine and the county, as well as business and community group representatives--is expected to decide Tuesday which specific proposals should be included in the redevelopment plan.

A workshop designed to get the public’s reaction to the redevelopment plans also has been set for Dec. 11.

Tustin officials expect to complete environmental studies next year, with final decision on the plan scheduled for next summer.

Times staff writer Bill Billiter contributed to this story.