North Tustin : Group Seeks Suggestions for Community’s Future

A North Tustin citizens’ organization began accepting suggestions Friday on proposals to annex or incorporate a 500-acre area, a day after a 48-page study commissioned by the group was released that drew no firm conclusions.

North Tustin Tomorrow officials said they will accept written comments for three weeks, after which the group will summarize the suggestions and begin negotiating with residents and government officials over the area’s future, said Francine Pace, chairwoman of Friends of North Tustin Tomorrow, the group’s fund-raising arm.

Thursday night, 500 people jammed the Hewes Intermediate School gymnasium to hear the results of a six-month, $10,000 study conducted by Agajanian & Associates, a Santa Ana consulting firm. The study did not draw any conclusions, according to Pace.

Last May, a majority of residents who showed up at City Hall to protest Tustin’s bid to annex the same area favored remaining under county jurisdiction. But Pace said North Tustin Tomorrow members decided that “we have to consider political change so as not to change (North Tustin’s life style).”

A negotiated annexation would need to include provisions that give residents some direct control over roads and services to protect property values and North Tustin’s ambiance, Pace said.

She said failure to settle the issue could mean that the community will be divided up among three cities: Santa Ana, Orange and Tustin.