Tustin : Hearing Scheduled on Freeway Connector Plan

The North Tustin Municipal Advisory Council will hold a special hearing tonight on a controversial plan for a freeway connection between the Garden Grove Freeway and the proposed Eastern Transportation Corridor.

Mayor Donald J. Saltarelli will speak at the 7:30 meeting in the multipurpose room of Guin Foss School, 18492 Vanderlip Ave., North Tustin. Council Chairwoman Patricia Seman said the talk will be about the mutual traffic problems facing Tustin and the area represented by the council: the unincorporated communities of North Tustin, east Santa Ana, Cowan Heights, Red Hill and Lemon Heights.

The advisory council opposes any freeway or arterial road connecting the Garden Grove Freeway with the proposed transportation corridor through the eastern part of the county. “We would be destroyed,” Seman said.

Council members would prefer the easternmost of several possible locations for the Eastern Transportation Corridor to reduce noise in their communities, Seman said.

The seven-member council, which meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, advises the Board of Supervisors about issues of concern to the unincorporated communities it represents.

The county Transportation Commission is scheduled to discuss the freeway connection at its July 28 meeting. A county advisory committee has recommended against any connector road through the North Tustin area, and the full commission is expected to go along with the recommendation.