TUSTIN : Historical House Finally Has a Home

Ending a long battle over its future, the historical Queen Anne house of Orange has finally found a home on Tustin’s quiet Main Street.

On Monday, the Tustin City Council voted unanimously to grant a building permit to Planning Commissioner Donald Le Jeune, who wants to move the structure to his front yard. The vote, backing an earlier Planning Commission ruling, effectively crushed efforts by some residents to keep the home off Main Street.

“I can find no reason I should go against . . . the Planning Commission,” Councilman Charles E. Puckett said. “I do believe this is going to enhance Main Street and be a centerpiece.”

Main Street residents complained Monday that the city had given Le Jeune preferential treatment on his application to rebuild the house at 440 Main St.

“As a resident of Old Town, I have not been given the same consideration as my neighbor, Planning Commissioner Le Jeune,” Pauline Collins said. “How is it that Planning Commissioner Le Jeune can move an entire house within a few weeks?”

Her husband, Bill Collins, agreed: “I am bothered by the appearance that all of this stuff is a done deal. A lot more needs to be done on this. A lot more thinking.”

Le Jeune dismissed suggestions that his application had been shepherded through.

“I have not sought any special privileges from anybody on this house,” he said. “I stood at the counter like everyone else trying to get permits.”

This is not the first controversy surrounding the Queen Anne house. Earlier this year, officials in Orange were forced to try to find a buyer for the property after a 1990 plan to transform the structure into a home for drug-addicted babies fell through. Then, the city denied the Old Towne Preservation Assn. of Orange’s request to buy the home on the grounds that the lot where it planned to move the structure was too small.

With no buyers in sight, the home was scheduled for demolition in September. But in a last-ditch effort to save the structure, the house was put up for a final bid. In July, Le Jeune purchased the home for $1 plus the cost of moving the structure.

City officials said the process of reviewing Le Jeune’s application was all aboveboard.

“I know of no circumstance where (Le Jeune) acted as anything but a constituent of the community,” Councilman Thomas R. Saltarelli said. “I simply cannot find anything in the record that would justify overturning the decision.”