TUSTIN : LAFCO Approves Annexation of Strip

A county commission voted Wednesday to allow the city to annex a strip of seven office buildings and six homes along Newport Boulevard, although some neighbors objected.

The Local Agency Formation Commission unanimously approved annexation of the 7.8-acre strip on the northwest side of the avenue between Wass Street and Windsor Lane in North Tustin.

“It takes a big chunk out of our community,” said Nancy Hamilton, 35, a homemaker who lives nearby.

Removing the strip from the jurisdiction of the North Tustin Municipal Advisory Council denies local residents a say in the use of the property, Hamilton said.

The council advises the County Board of Supervisors on matters in unincorporated North Tustin.

William C. Weber Jr., president of the Foothill Communities Assn., also opposed the annexation. The Tustin City Council, he said, could someday change the zoning to allow larger commercial ventures on the property.

City Councilman Richard B. Edgar said the council has no plans to change the use of the land from residential and low-density office use.

Before the annexation becomes official, the City Council must hold a hearing to allow landowners in the proposed annexation area to protest, LAFCO executive director James J. Colangelo said. If owners holding a majority of the assessed value of the land say they do not want to be in Tustin, he said, the annexation proposal dies.

Most landowners have already requested annexation, so a protest is not likely, he said.