Officials look to buy vacant Guard property

Costa Mesa officials will continue their recent quest to buy property for open space by pursuing the eight-acre California Air National Guard parcel the guard will vacate on Sunday. Members of the city’s guard post will join a unit north of Sacramento.

City Manager Allan Roeder said he’s been watching the property for at least 10 years.

The parcel, just off Newport Boulevard near TeWinkle Park, has been suggested as a site for a community center or other public use.

California National Guard Capt. Jonathan Shiroma said he didn’t know the property’s value; but because it’s military land, he said, the guard must offer it to any branches of the Air Force, then the Defense Department, before other federal agencies that may want to use it.

If no one’s interested, the city could then try to make a deal for the property.

— Alicia Robinson