Tustin to Put Controversial Annexations on the Ballot

Amid name-calling, shouting and allegations of foul play, a sharply divided Tustin City Council voted Monday night to put two resolutions to annex areas north of the city on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Mayor Richard B. Edgar led the effort to put the measure on the ballot as a group of about 50 people protested the annexation loudly at an emotionally charged meeting. Some people stormed out of the council chambers after the meeting, shouting insults at the council.

The council voted, 3 to 2, to follow city staff recommendations that the two annexations be put to a general vote because a petition effort indicated that 25-50% of residents in the two areas were against annexation.

At issue are the proposed annexations of unincorporated areas of North Tustin. About 2,500 registered voters live in those areas, which are bounded by La Colina Drive on the north, Browning Avenue on the east, Newport Avenue on the west and Burnt Mill Road on the south.

‘High-Handed Attempt’

During the two-hour meeting Monday, residents lambasted City Council members, characterizing their handling of the North Tustin annexation issue as “a high-handed attempt to seize the areas” and “a thinly disguised effort at neutrality.”

One resident urged the council to accept--”gracefully, like reasonable and rational people”--their determination to remain unincorporated.

But the most scorching criticism came from residents such as Joseph Herzig, who hurled charges of “partiality” and questioned the “good faith” of the City Council.

Herzig, who lives on Rainbow Drive in one of the annexation areas, contended that more than 50% of the area’s residents had signed a petition protesting the annexation and argued that state law therefore required the annexation effort to be dropped.

In a particularly heated exchange, Councilman John Kelly said that the “best way for this kind of issue to be resolved is in an unemotional vote in a private voting booth,” where people would not be “intimidated” and “antagonized” into signing “a list of falsehoods.”

Herzig shot back: “If you want to talk about lies and discrepancies, the information the mayor put out is full of discrepancies. It’s full of untrue statements.

“I and others don’t trust Tustin to conduct an honest election.”

Edgar later was roundly booed when he said he was “sufficiently convinced of the fact that an election would be the best and fairest way to go.”

Councilman Earl Prescott and Kelly joined Edgar in voting for the Nov. 3 election, with Mayor Pro tem Ursula Kennedy and Councilman Ronald Hoesterey voting no.

Announcement Error

Hoesterey said he believed the annexations should be “terminated” because of a city error in the public announcement of a public hearing. The error, which later was corrected in a republication, involved the time period during which the protest petition could be signed. About 90 signatures were ruled invalid because they fell outside the time frame.

Kennedy said she voted against the Nov. 3 election for the same reason, but emphasized that her vote was not supportive of the annexation opponents’ views. She also prefaced her vote with a scathing reply to many of the people who had spoken, calling them “illogical and hysterical.”

“I would be embarrassed if I were a county resident and were being represented by some of you,” she said.