With little fanfare and no discussion, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously, Tuesday, to take the next step toward building a regional park at one of the blimp hangars on the old Tustin MCAS base. When the base closed, most of the land, including one of the Hangars, was handed over to the city of Tustin for redevelopment. The cost-free acquisition of the land was a hallmark of then mayor Tracy Worley-Hagen and the city wasted no time getting to work on plans for the eventual development of the property. That development, it turned out, did not include the south hangar retained by the city.

The other hangar was handed over to the County of Orange. Rather than cast it aside, they set about finding ways they could centerpiece the hangar and surrounding land as a venue or park. Earlier this year, OC Parks Department unveiled a concept for a new park using the hangar as a multi-venue facility. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to go forward with the plan. Until now, little more has been said about it, although it was clear OC Parks personnel were working on the project.

It was apparent for some time the County wanted to save the north hangar for some type of use. They entered into an agreement previously with another development group that also had plans for multiple uses or tenants for the hangar. That deal expired without any real work being performed on the concept. This latest move by the county to select LPA, Inc. as the primary and MIG, Inc. as the alternate general development companies for the project is a significant step forward. It is unclear how far LPA has gone with plans for the hangar. The only attachments to the agenda item on the county website were scoring sheets for the various companies that showed how well the companies performed in comparison of capabilities.

We have written several times about the reuse of the hangars and even briefly defended the city’s stance based on what we thought was diligent work on their part to find reuse. We have since changed our position and believe the city has erred in not developing a use for the hangar. And, we aren’t the only ones who think the city is making a big mistake. Aside from the residents, who overwhelmingly wish to see the hangars remain intact, the city hired a firm called Management Partners who conducted research on strategic planning for the city. One of their findings was that the city was missing a huge opportunity by not pursuing reuse of the south hangar. The only thing saving the south hangar so far has been the fact that title is retained by the U.S. Navy. We hope they will leave the hangar as is until cooler heads in the city come to the dais, perhaps with a joint plan with the county for reuse as a larger park facility.

Regardless of the final fate of the south hangar, the north hangar, and a signficant piece of history, will be preserved through the actions of the OC Board of Supervisors. Although this is a first step and there is much work to be done, it looks like the hangar is here to stay.

One thing, Supervisor Moorlach, my wife would like you to include a central market. Nothing fancy. You could use LA’s Grand Central Market as an outline. Just a thought.