Tustin-Base Tussle Resumes

Eight years of impersonating the Hatfields and McCoys apparently are not enough for the city of Tustin and the Santa Ana Unified School District, which have resumed their feud over reuse plans for the former Tustin Marine base.

In recent years, the warring parties were at risk of having the state or federal government step in and impose a solution on how to develop the former blimp and helicopter base. But in the spring of this year, the city and school district signaled that they’d signed a peace treaty. Just months later, however, the gloves again are off, and both sides are swinging freely in the costly and embarrassing tug of war.

Tustin earned the Santa Ana school district’s enmity during the 1990s by agreeing to turn over parts of the former base to the Tustin and Irvine school districts, the South Orange County Community College District and, after much haggling, the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Santa Ana, a cash-hungry district with a heavy population of students, was left out of the land giveaway.

Tustin’s defense has always been that the city needs to retain a hefty amount of acreage at the former base to help finance redevelopment. Cooler heads subsequently prevailed, and the two sides in May reached an agreement that, in the words of Tustin Councilwoman Tracy Wills Worley, came about through “the spirit of compromise and public service.”

The agreement, Worley wrote in an opinion piece that appeared in this newspaper, “will both help alleviate the crowded conditions of Sana Ana Unified schools and ensure that the base reuse plan that benefits all Orange County citizens can move forward.”

But Santa Ana recently alleged that Tustin officials reneged on part of the promise to guarantee a $60-million payment to the school district. At issue is how that guarantee will be made -- in the form of a letter of credit (which would make life easier for Santa Ana) or a promissory note (Tustin’s plan). An Orange County Superior Court judge on Tuesday will try to sort out the arguments and make a decision.

Tustin should abide by the terms of its agreement with the district; the school system should work with Tustin to clear the latest hurdle.

The only certainty is that redevelopment plans for the former base will remain stalled until the two sides reach an agreement. That alone should provide reason for a quick resolution.