TUSTIN : Homeowners Seek to Block Annexation

The leader of a North Tustin homeowners group said it plans to take legal action to block annexation of a 7.8-acre strip of land along Newport Boulevard.

William C. Weber Jr., president of Foothill Communities Assn., said the group’s board of directors believes the annexation does not meet legal requirements.

Dessa Schroeder, chairwoman of the North Tustin Municipal Advisory Council, said the group recommended against approval because it was a strip annexation, which current laws are designed to prevent.

But Christine Shingleton, director of community development for Tustin, said the annexation meets all legal requirements. Although approval is already final, anyone who objects to it has 60 days from the time the annexation is recorded to file an action in court, said James J. Colangelo, director of the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). The annexation was recorded with the county last week.

The city initiated the annexation procedure in September at the request of area property owners.

LAFCO approved the annexation in November and upheld its decision in January.

Last month, the City Council held a protest hearing at which two North Tustin residents spoke in opposition to the annexation. But, by law, the council could not deny the request unless it received written protests from owners whose property accounted for more than half of the annexation area’s value.

Weber said a committee of the Foothill Communities Assn., which includes about 500 homes and nearly 1,000 members, has been working on a report on the benefits and drawbacks of North Tustin’s annexation to Tustin or incorporation as its own entity. A consultant’s report is expected by the end of the week, and then communitywide meetings will be scheduled for the findings to be presented, he said.

About 20,000 residents of North Tustin live in an unincorporated area that falls within Tustin’s sphere of influence.