TUSTIN : Law Firm to Help on Base Financial Plan

A law firm has been hired to help prepare a financial plan to pay for new roads, sewers and power lines that must be built at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station to make the base an economic asset to the city.

Sitting as the Redevelopment Agency, the City Council on Monday picked the law firm of McDonough, Holland and Allen from among four applicants to provide legal services.

The Sacramento-based company, which city officials describe as experts on redevelopment law and base closure, will be paid $35,000.

“We have to assemble the best possible team to draft a redevelopment strategy,” said City Manager William A. Huston. He said that the city needs about $200 million to build the new infrastructure at the base.

The 1,620-acre helicopter base is scheduled to close in 1997. A 17-member panel, made up of business, government and community leaders, is currently drafting a reuse plan that will be submitted to the U.S. Department of the Navy, which owns the base, for approval.

The reuse plan is not expected to be completed until late summer, officials said, and it could take another year before the Navy approves a final reuse plan.

In the meantime, the city is readying a separate plan to convert the base to a redevelopment area once the military leaves.

In August, the City Council hired the planning company Katz Hollisto draft a financial plan that would likely include selling bonds to pay for the cost of developing the base, Huston said.

McDonough, Holland and Allen will provide legal services to Katz Hollis, such as reviewing documents, preparing notices and drafting the ordinance that would designate the base as a redevelopment area.

Redevelopment Program Manager Richard Zimmer said the base will be declared a blighted area because of the amount of improvements needed.