Tustin and the Santa Ana School District

By Anthony "Tony" Kawashima

Kawashima opposes land give-away to Santa Ana

The area in question is part of a 220- acre parcel on the southwest corner of the former Marine Corps Helicopter Base that Tustin has master planned for commercial, R&D, high-tech, office and industrial uses. The Santa Ana Unified School District boundaries incorporate a portion of the site and the district has indicated its intent to site a new school at that location. However, the City of Tustin has declared that locating a school at that site is "inconsistent" with the city's reuse plan.

Important to facts to note are:

· Rezoning for a school site on over one-third of the land, which has already been designated for economic development, would be disastrous in terms of lost revenue, higher development fees, lower property values and lost job opportunities. · The proposed school site is on Tustin property, not Santa Ana. The nearest Santa Ana students are over 2 miles away. · Intentional delays of the re-use process are having a negative financial impact on the City of Tustin. · Not only is a high school inconsistent with the city re-use plan, the site is not within the acceptable noise level standards due to its proximity to roads and proposed industrial sites. · Local legislators site Santa Ana's overcrowded schools and lack of available land as the reason for attempting to locate a new school in Tustin. Why should Tustin assume responsibility for Santa Ana's poor planning, vision and foresight? · Santa Ana school district will get approx. $3 million a year from new taxes from the base's commercial development PLUS it is guaranteed over $145 million for site acquisition and construction because of the 1999 state school tax initiative.

Kawashima also denounced the "extortion" tactics being employed by the Santa Ana district, which involves getting local legislators to intentionally delay the conversion process in both Sacramento and Washington D.C. unless the land is provided to Santa Ana.

"The Santa Ana School District wants to take away one- third of the most valuable land on the base, with its job and tax revenue generating potential," says Kawashima. "This is bad for the City of Tustin and bad for businesses who have plans to develop or move there. Losing that much land will result in higher developer fees to pay for infrastructure improvements. Everyone's bottom line will suffer with the delays."

"As a Tustin Councilman, I will fight to make sure Tustin will never give in to these 'shakedown' tactics" says Kawashima.