ORANGE : Poll Finds Support for Tax to Buy Land

Nearly 77% of the city’s residents would support an annual $30 property tax increase to purchase the former site of the Santiago Golf Course and its surrounding area so that it could be left as open space, according to results of a poll announced Friday by the group pushing for such a measure.

The poll, conducted last weekend at the request of the Santiago Creek Greenway Alliance, showed that another 9% would support a tax increase of $20 a year to buy the 33-acre parcel at Tustin and La Veta avenues. Only 15% said they would oppose any tax increase for the project, according to the poll.

The alliance would like to keep the land undeveloped and build a bike trail to connect it with other parks along the creek. The group has been pressing its cause with the City Council for the past year.

“I think this shows that a lot of people are fed up with having a lot of traffic and the loss of open space,” said Howard DeCruyenaere, the group’s president and founder. He is a 32-year-old Santa Ana resident who grew up in Orange. “We also know that people are fed up with taxes, but I think this shows how much they want open space.”

He said he hopes the council will look at the results and put the question on the ballot.

The poll of 483 registered voters was conducted by Carl Reitz, a former newspaper pollster who is now a professor of anthropology and math at Chapman University. The survey has a 5% plus or minus accuracy rate, Reitz said.

Frank Elfin, a development consultant working for the partnership of Burnett-Ehline/William Lyons Co., the property’s owner, said the companies are not necessarily opposed to selling the land but would want the fair market price for it. He said they have been negotiating with a council-appointed committee to study the property’s future.

“We want to look at the results (of the survey), but if the attitude of the voters is for the city to acquire the land, we will take that into consideration,” Elfin said.

The alliance estimated the property’s worth at $4 million. Elfin said it is worth considerably more than that but could not give an exact figure.

The companies had plans to build a 110-home tract on the land, but those are on hold during negotiations. The City Council earlier this year rejected a larger project.