County Drops Plans for Jail at Tustin Base : Land Use: In a compromise with city officials, the Board of Supervisors instead intends to move an animal shelter there when the Navy leaves in 1997.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously withdrew a proposal Tuesday to build a work furlough jail, a second juvenile hall and an alcohol recovery center at the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station, part of a compromise with Tustin leaders and residents.

Instead, the county plans to move its animal control shelter from Orange to the base, a change that comes after months of negotiations with Tustin officials over a list of potential uses for the 1,620-acre helicopter base that closes in 1997.

“I think the work done is commendable on both sides,” board Chairman Thomas F. Riley said Tuesday.

The base reuse plan also includes county proposals for a family resource center, a child-care shelter, a regional law enforcement training center and an urban regional park.

Leaders and residents in Tustin opposed proposals for the work furlough facility, the second juvenile hall and sobering-up center, saying the uses were not economically feasible nor compatible with the rest of the plan.

Without support from Tustin officials, the county had little hope of seeing the proposals approved, officials said. Tustin officials, meanwhile, have greeted the county’s revised plan with support.

The U.S. Department of the Navy, which owns the base, ultimately will approve a reuse plan for it. Local officials hope to submit a final reuse plan to the Navy later this year, and it could take another year before the Navy makes a decision.

Tustin City Manager William A. Huston said Tuesday he’s confident the plan as now proposed will be accepted by the Navy. The relocation of the animal shelter played a key role in bringing the compromise together, he added.

“That’s something the city can live with and it helps the county meet some of its goals,” Huston said. “That was the key to the decision on both the part of the city and the county.”

The animal shelter relocation, however, remains a complicated issue in Orange and is connected to controversy over proposed expansion at Theo Lacy Branch Jail.

Under a 1991 agreement, the city of Orange is supposed to pay for relocation of the animal shelter, estimated at several million dollars, in order to extend Metropolitan Drive.

County officials have not yet determined what they might do with the animal shelter site after the move. It’s questionable, officials said, if the site could be used as part of a proposal to expand nearby Theo Lacy Branch Jail.

Orange officials have indicated they might use the city’s obligation to pay for the animal shelter relocation as a bargaining tool to prevent jail expansion.