Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante continues his abuse of City taxpayers and his opposition to the quality schools in Tustin by leading his Council in filing yet another lawsuit against the Tustin Unified School District, and then adding to that the cost of a political mailer at city expense to certain Tustin neighborhoods.

First, some background. The Tustin school district acquired ten acres of land along Red Hill Avenue in the base directly from the federal Department of Education. But it was faced with a “build it or lose it” mandate from the federal government, so it built Heritage School as an elementary school. The problem is that due to the lack of development on the Marine Base (the City is in year 16 of a ten year plan to build the base), there were only 78 elementary students available for this September.

So, instead of spending an extra $400,000 to open a school for so few students, the TUSD Board instead decided to utilize Heritage on a temporary basis for various activities where construction projects are going on, because it is cheaper and more educationally sound to move the students out of the way of the construction. So, Hillview High School, Sycamore High School, and the Tustin Adult School were moved, along with some internal departments, on a temporary basis rather than leaving the new facility empty.

Seeing an opportunity to boost his political standing among neighborhoods that had been very attracted to the “Recall Amante” campaign, Tustin Mayor Amante told the “Voice of OC” news blog that this was all about TUSD “favoring” North Tustin at the expense of the City. He was quoted by one reporter as calling it “yet another” example of such favoritism. When asked what the first example was, neither Amante nor the reporter could come up with any.

The story according to Amante is that TUSD is victimizing students to build country club like tennis courts for North Tustin. (Just as in the April 2010 advertisement where the City deliberately misled readers by using photos of environmental problems in Seal Beach and pretending that they were related to TUSD, this mailer shows country club like tennis courts that are unlike any built by TUSD anywhere.) By advocating the politics of resentment and seeking to turn parts of the school district against each other, Amante clearly places his own political needs above the truth and needs of the community and its schools. Some facts:

Foothill High has no tennis courts. TUSD is building six for the FHS team to use, which can also be used at other times by the community, just as at Tustin and Beckman High. Tustin has six, Beckman has eight tennis courts.

The assignment of Hillview (he fails to mention the Sycamore and Tustin Adult students who transferred from near Tustin High to facilitate projects there) to the Heritage campus is temporary.  Most Hillview and Sycamore students are residents of the City of Tustin!

Foothill High is NOT just for North Tustin. Students from Santa Ana and from the City of Tustin north of First Street attend as well. (Just as Tustin Ranch residents attend Beckman, many North Tustin residents east of Red Hill attend Tustin High, and any student can ask for a transfer to any school, with the vast majority of such requests being approved.)   Amante would deny tennis courts to students from his own city if they happen to attend Foothill High.

Amante seems to forget that the residents of North Tustin help fill his City coffers by patronizing businesses in his City, generating sales taxes for him to spend. Perhaps you should consider purchasing your next car someplace OTHER THAN the Tustin Auto Center, if Amante and friends dislike North Tustin so much.

Nor does he understand the many ways that North Tustin residents support schools and students all over our school district. For one, Foothill High is consistently one of the highest generators of sign-ups for the Dino Dash fundraiser. Yet because Foothill has its own Foothill Ed Fund, nearly all of those funds raised go to help out schools in the City of Tustin.

Amante claims that because three of the five TUSD Board members are from North Tustin that they discriminate against the City of Tustin. The fact is that spending per student is as high or HIGHER in City of Tustin schools than in North Tustin schools.

(By the way, does that mean that Amante should resign from the City Council because FOUR of the five Council members live in the Tustin Ranch 92782 zipcode, while the majority of City residents live in Tustin 92780? How can a Tustin Ranch majority possibly serve the larger population?  The same Amante logic would seem to apply there!)

Ironically, it was the TUSD Board, with its North Tustin majority, that moved ahead to invest millions of dollars of improvements at Tustin High, and it was the City of Tustin’s own City Council that called Tustin High a “public nuisance” in its lawsuit against TUSD! If the schools within the City of Tustin had to rely on Amante’s City Council to help them out instead of the school board, they’d be in poor shape indeed!

Amante and his henchmen John Nielsen and Al Murray will no doubt ask for your support for something in the next few years. Perhaps you will be asked to attend a fundraiser for the Tustin Community Foundation which Mr. Nielsen’s wife runs, or the Mayor’s Breakfast or something. If you choose to help out, make sure they know that it is NORTH TUSTIN money they are getting, and ask them to stop the silly game of stirring up unfounded resentments!

1. The local public school exemption in the Tustin grading ordinance was first adopted in 1963, even prior to the existence of the Tustin Unified School District.  (At the time, there were separate districts for high schools and K-8 education.)
2. The same exemption exists in the City of Irvine and in the unincorporated County of Orange territory, and has not been changed there.
3. The same water quality rules apply to ALL municipalities, including the City of Irvine and Orange County.  But NEITHER of them have repealed their grading ordinance exemption for local public schools, or otherwise imposed the sorts of additional controls, costs and requests for concessions requested by the City of Tustin.
4. It would appear from the City’s own documents that this “risk” to the City of “$10,000 per day” fines has existed since 2002.  During all this time, NOT ONE TIME has any TUSD project caused one cent of fines to be levied for water quality issues to ANYBODY.  NOT the City of Tustin.  NOT the City of Irvine.  NOT the County of Orange.  NOT TUSD!
   

1. Obviously, if contractors and TUSD must comply with additional unneeded duplicative regulations, the costs of those regulations is going to be borne by the taxpayers either directly or via higher bids on projects within the City of Tustin.
2. Because the City’s handling of its demands to date has been capricious and ever changing, contractors are going to FURTHER increase their bids due to the UNCERTAINTY they will face in not knowing what costs they may incur in meeting City of Tustin demands.
3. In addition to permit and inspection fees, the City of Tustin is demanding that TUSD add its “grading legend” to all grading plans.  This grading legend includes a list of 57 specific items, most of which lead to additional unneeded costs and inspections.  In addition, the City of Tustin has demanded perpetual covenants on school land, imposing additional inspections and costs, AND demanded that TUSD provide FREE EASEMENTS that have nothing to do with protecting neighbors from poor grading or water quality!
4. These and other practices of the City of Tustin will, if allowed, create unknown delays in school construction projects.  DELAYS MEAN HIGHER COSTS TO TAXPAYERS!
   

1. ALL school construction projects in California are required to get storm water management permits from state water authorities AND to have each element of the design reviewed and approved by the Division of the State Architect and other state authorities.
2. EVERY MINUTE that a school construction project is underway, AT LEAST ONE INSPECTOR who is STATE CERTIFIED must be ON SITE assuring that all construction meets state approved criteria.
3. Hundreds of millions of dollars in projects have been done under these rules without one violation and without one fine ever being levied either for storm water problems (governed by state SWPPP permits provided by the State on EACH TUSD projects) nor for Water Quality Management Plan problems since 2002.
4. Furthermore, TUSD is seeking its own permit under the MS4 process referenced in City documents, which when granted will COMPLETELY REMOVE THE RISK to Tustin that the City could be fined for TUSD violations.
   

1. EMAIL the four City Council members stating your STRONG objection to any last minute, costly changes in grading ordinances applicable to school construction projects!
2. COME on Monday to the Emergency City Council meeting by 6 pm on Monday, April 25 at the City Council chambers.
3. EMAIL YOUR FRIENDS AND ASK THEM TO JOIN YOU IN TAKING THE ABOVE TWO ACTIONS!
   

Briefly, for the nearly 50 years since the City of Tustin adopted its grading ordinance, it has been understood that the public school district is EXEMPT from its provisions. 

School construction is controlled by the Division of the State Architect (DSA), which must approve all construction plans AND which requires that DSA certified inspectors be on site at any time work is being done on any school construction project.

The school district provided review copies of grading plans and related documents to the city for review by its engineers, which was done promptly, and any needed changes made with DSA approval.

No grading permits were required or issued.  The grading ordinances of the City of Tustin, the City of Irvine and the County of Orange all exempt public school districts.

No fees were requested nor paid to the city.

Millions of dollars of school construction projects took place, including several completely new schools, including even recent Measure G funded improvements.

And then in 2009, the City of Tustin apparently had a change of heart.

Without any change in its ordinance, it decided that school construction projects at Tustin High and the Heritage School would require grading permits, plans submitted on City of Tustin forms that require multiple meetings and extra inspections, thousands of dollars in review fees AND in fees for duplicate inspections (since DSA inspectors were still being required by the State of California), and that the school district grant easements and certain perpetual rights to the City of Tustin.

The school district objected.  The school district tried to compromise - paying review fees, but not accepting unneeded inspections or controls.  Each time it appeared that a compromise might be at hand, yet another additional requirement came forth from the City of Tustin.

Faced with the prospect of losing the land for the Heritage School site and of millions of dollars of additional construction costs if the low construction bids accepted had to be cancelled, the school district decided to proceed with its construction projects despite multiple legal and financial threats from the City of Tustin.  To protect itself, it went to court asking a judge to prevent the City of Tustin from imposing illegal requirements upon school construction projects.

At first, the City Council members claimed that this suit was unneeded and frivolous.  But then the City sued the School District asking a judge for an injunction against ANY grading activity at the school construction sites and asking for YEARS of inspection rights on school district property.

The purpose of this web site is to illustrate to interested community members precisely the degree of costly unneeded regulation that the City of Tustin requests be imposed upon our local school construction projects - contrary to all precedent and local law!  

Please read the various pages and sign up to be kept up to date on this dispute, which is scheduled to go before a judge in mid-December.

What the School District objects to is the City's effort to impose an unnecessary, very costly and excessive duplicate set of inspections and regulations upon the construction work itself!  The State's Division of State Architects requires the School District to pay for on-site DSA inspectors every single day of construction.  But that is not enough for the City of Tustin.  Their "General Notes" on their Grading Title Sheet and other requirements will multiply the costs of excess and duplicate inspections and regulation.  These amount to a "double taxation" on the taxpayer funds that are being used to fund these badly needed school improvements.

It has been noted that Mayor Amante and much of the City Council actively opposed the Measure L school bond proposal in 2008 - which passed in the City of Tustin with a 60% "YES" vote.  Is all of this their way of winning a lost political battle without a vote of the people?

You can read all of the Grading Title Sheet rules, regulations and inspection requirements by clicking on "RedTape Examples" on this web site.

Also check out "Tustin's WRRP" for another example of the excesses and high costs of the City's proposed regulations. 

Mayor Amante claims to be a fiscally conservative Republican.  So why won't he and his solid Council majority act to cut out very costly and unnecessary regulations and hold down the cost of government right here in Tustin?