More than two years after a blaze destroyed the historic north hangar, leaving the Tustin Legacy with just one of the iconic structures at its core, city officials say a new planning phase for the developing neighborhood is underway.
Residents will have opportunities on Wednesday, April 22, and Thursday, April 23, to help shape the future of the area by attending open-house workshops. The sessions will include the same information on both days, and will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Tustin Community Center, located in the Market Place at 2961 El Camino Real.
There was also a pre-workshop survey around the vision for the Tustin Legacy Core available online earlier this week.
The Tustin Legacy Core is bounded by Valencia Avenue to the north, Warner Avenue to the south, Armstrong Road to the west, and Tustin Ranch Road to the east, and includes both the now cleared north hangar site and the remaining south hangar site.
Framework plans, or visual depictions of potential development scenarios, will serve as tools at the two workshops to gather community input.
Feedback gathered from residents during this week’s workshops, which will also feature a documentary on the site’s military history and open-house comment stations, will help guide future decisions on the Tustin Legacy Core, city officials said.
In 1996, Tustin was named the authority for how the soon-to-shutter Tustin Marine Corps Air Station would be redeveloped. In 2003, a framework for the greater 1,600-acre Tustin Legacy district was created and since then more than 4,200 homes have been built, as well as shopping centers, schools, government facilities and about 95 acres of public parks.
About 600 acres remain to be developed.
The city recently selected Tustin native Dan Almquist and his Almquist Development for an exclusive negotiating agreement to potentially turn 52 vacant acres nearby in the Tustin Legacy into a mixed-use project on Red Hill and Warner Avenue. While the preliminary components are bound to be refined during the remaining process, city staffers have said the concept for that area includes retail and housing, some of it designated as affordable, and some improvements to Tustin Legacy Park.