O.C. May Ask to Put Jail on Tustin Base

Despite community opposition, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider asking the U.S. Defense Department to allow detention facilities and a police training center at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station after it closes in 1997, officials said Thursday.

“Obviously, we decided that these are facilities which we have a need for,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley, adding that he has not decided how he will vote on the proposal.

“This is all part of what the public hearing process is all about,” Riley said. “This is a county need, and certainly one that is appropriate, but, like everything else, a lot of times when such facilities are needed, the public where they’re to be located has different views.”

The county plan includes a jail for prisoners on daytime work furloughs, a second juvenile hall, an alcoholism rehabilitation center and a law enforcement training facility.

Tustin officials were not pleased by the proposal, but most said they were neither surprised nor upset.

“The county is asking for as much as they can, and hoping they’ll get it,” said Kathy Weil, a member of the Tustin Base Closure Task Force, which is gathering plans for the future use of the base. “If I were them, I’d do that too.”

Any kind of correctional facility or law enforcement training center had been rejected by the closure task force, composed of community, business and public agency representatives.

Although the county is represented on the task force, “it sounds like they’re trying to make an end run around the committee,” Weil said. “The county’s proposed a regional park for this area. . . . But it sounds to me like the county wants to take over the whole base.”

The key point to bear in mind, Weil said, is that “anyone can request anything they want,” but the Department of Defense, which owns the 1,620-acre property, must make the final decision. “They take into consideration the plan that’s finally presented by the community, and our plan doesn’t include the crime-prevention stuff the county has presented,” she said.

While the federal government prefers to work with a plan developed by a community, public agencies such as the county can apply directly for projects even if they have been rejected by local officials.

County Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino said Thursday that the proposed uses of the Tustin property were the result of a nearly yearlong review of future government needs.

“We scrutinized all county programs, from A to Z, and we identified a number of different programs that could be referred to Tustin,” Rubino said. “We are simply asking the (Board of Supervisors) for authority to present this application to the Tustin (officials) and notify the federal government of our proposals.”

Asked to gauge the community’s reaction to the possible location of correctional facilities on the base, Rubino said: “We’re working with the community and attempting to find a middle ground.”

Tustin Mayor Jim Potts agreed that Tustin won’t be blindsided.

“It’s not like Tustin is going to wake up tomorrow, and residents are going to complain because we’re getting stuff thrown at us on the base. . . . Our staff is negotiating with the county to bring about some things that will be beneficial to our community as well as the county,” he said. “We’re all working on this together.”

Casper Kasperian of Tustin, a member of the Base Closure Task Force, said that “within reason, everything is viable. People don’t want a dump or an incinerator there, but everything else is viable.”

In February of 1993, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ask the federal government for permission to use the base as a county jail site.

However, in December, a 17-member task force appointed by the Tustin City Council approved a range of uses for the base, including a mix of residential and recreational facilities, but clearly rejected any prison, substance abuse facility or law enforcement training facility.

In part because the training center would include a pistol range, the panel’s report stated that a “law enforcement training facility (is) not compatible with surrounding uses.”

Tustin City Manager William A. Huston said the city’s staff wants to be “responsible and fair, and not to get caught up in a not-in-my-back-yard attitude.”

Huston said he met Thursday with Christine Shingleton, Tustin assistant city manager, as well as County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider and Environmental Management Agency Director Mike Ruane to discuss compromises between the city and the county on the base.

“We don’t want to be in a position where we have to bicker or squabble with the county,” Huston said. “That means we have to give a little and the county has to do that, too.”

About the juvenile hall, for example, Huston said that staff members of both governmental agencies will have to decide if it’s an appropriate use for the base.

“Maybe there’s a way that nonviolent juveniles can be channeled into job training programs there instead,” Huston said.

Huston was amenable to county programs such as vocational training for people convicted of crimes other than serious felonies, and programs that help battered children and mothers.

“We think those are the kinds of uses that can be worked into the plan,” Huston said.

He also noted that when Tustin representatives objected to the law enforcement training site, county officials suggested scaling it back from the proposed 53-acre academy to one building for classrooms, and perhaps an indoor laser shooting range.

“The county’s made a good-faith effort,” Huston said. “We think there are elements in the county proposal that can be accommodated in the plan.

“The city and county are saying, ‘Let’s not butt heads or throw rocks at each other on this,’ ” he said.

“I think both the city and county can come out a winner,” he said. “That’s not to say all their requests can be granted, but we’ve got it down to a list that’s negotiable and we can talk about.”

Robert L. Richardson, a Santa Ana councilman and that city’s representative to the task force, would not comment on the county’s proposals beyond saying that some of them “could benefit every city in the county.”

Santa Ana is intensely interested in developments at the air base, he said.

“From the city of Santa Ana point of view, we want to see some park development there and circulation measures,” said Richardson, who works for Supervisor Roger R. Stanton.

The task force rejected a request by Santa Ana city officials and the Santa Ana Unified School District to use 70 acres for a high school. A similar request by a coalition of local school districts and colleges was partially rejected.

After that rejection, Santa Ana officials said they would appeal directly to the federal government for permission to use the acreage. The request by the group of school districts has already been sent to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and a decision could be made by March.

The federal Bureau of Prisons did not follow through on its initial interest in the Tustin base because of early opposition by community leaders. However, it is considering using a portion of the nearby El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Times staff writers Gebe Martinez and Kevin Johnson contributed to this report.