"Right now the base is identified in the general plan asmilitary," says Dana Ogdon, the city's senior project manager."This amendment would change the base's zoning designation."

As a practical matter, this amendment is mostly an innocuousdocument--merely the first step towards converting the base tocivilian uses, Ogdon says. Still, there have been a number of reuseplans proposed over the past few years for the 1,600-acreMCAS-Tustin Project Area, including a no project alternative thatencompasses the base plus an additional 52 acres adjacent to it. Atpresent the city is considering one particular reuse plan, whichhas been submitted to the Department of Defense, the Navy and theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development.

Because of its former use, the Navy has taken charge of amassive environmental cleanup effort. Ogdon says the Navy hasalready completed 85% of the cleanup, with four or five small watercontamination plumes remaining from oil and gasoline storage tanks,and a system to remove the rest of the contamination has been putin place.