NORTH TUSTIN : Residents Sign Up to Be Included Out

Upset by the prospect of North Tustin’s incorporation, a group of residents is collecting signatures to join Tustin instead.

Douglas Chapman, one of about a dozen people who want to make sure they are not included in North Tustin, said, “The new city will be poorly funded. It requires an additional tax on the residents to even bring it up to a level that is less than the existing level of services.”

The group favors annexation by Tustin of an area with about 4,000 registered voters, bounded roughly by Fairhaven Avenue on the north, Esplanade Avenue on the east and Warren Avenue and existing city boundaries on the south and west. In terms of population, this would be Tustin’s largest annexationever, Mayor Richard B. Edgar said.

“I welcome what they’re trying to do,” Edgar said. “I don’t see my role as helping them, but I’m going to be very willing to see what they can come up with. And if they can get enough signatures, I’m going to be happy to support them.”

Residents must gather valid signatures from 5% of the 4,000 registered voters to bring their petition before the Local Agency Formation Commission. Chapman said the group’s goal is twice that, just to be safe.

If the application is approved by LAFCO, it will be forwarded to the Tustin City Council for consideration.

Chapman and others worked on an unsuccessful annexation effort for the same area about four years ago.

At that time, some residents protested that annexation to Tustin would bring higher taxes--which Chapman disputes. This time around, the higher taxes will come if annexation does not happen, he said.

Proponents for the incorporation of North Tustin say they have collected more than two-thirds of the 6,000 signatures they need to qualify the measure for the ballot.