Tustin Ranch homeowners who live within the city’s Landscape and Lighting District are slated to see increased costs for the special annual fees they pay to fund maintenance in the neighborhood, like tree trimming and plant watering.
City council members voted 4-0 to approve the new rates — which are expected to go up each year for the next five years — in order to keep up with increasing costs for maintenance work in town.
Councilmember Ray Schnell recused himself from the discussion because he lives in the landscape and lighting district.
Tustin Ranch homeowners already pay an annual rate that corresponds to their home address within the district, which is separated into three different zones.
Homeowners who live in Area A currently pay $7.58 annually. That rate is expected to increase by a few dollars each year before it reaches $11.45 by 2030.
Homeowners who live in Area B, the majority of the district, currently pay $106.97 annually. That rate is expected to increase each year before it reaches $224.21 by 2030.
Tustin homeowners who live in Area C currently pay $140.01 annually. That rate is expected to increase each year before reaching $259.78 by 2030.
The Tustin Landscape & Lighting District was formed in 1985 as a funding mechanism to pay for enhanced landscape and street lighting along public streets in Tustin Ranch.
Starting in 2009, the annual revenue generated by the district was no longer enough to cover expenses, Assistant Director of Public Works Stacey Cuevas said at the council’s Dec. 2 meeting.
She said that in 2009, council members voted to use surplus construction funds to cover additional maintenance expenses, but those funds ran out in 2020.
In 2021, city staff members initiated a process to increase rates, but that effort did not pass, Cuevas said. Instead, maintenance services were reduced in order to stay within available funding.
Cuevas said the city is currently on an eight-week rotation for landscape maintenance, and the increased funding will be able to return that schedule to a four-week rotation.
Additionally, Cuevas said the additional funding will restore the city’s watering schedule and allow service crews to trim trees every other year instead of every three years.
“As you guys all know from your own homes, plants don’t last forever; if we don’t start re-investing in rehabilitation programs, we run the risk of eventually losing plant material,” Cuevas said during the meeting on Dec. 2.
“What we’ve been doing over the last few years is just getting by in the hottest months with water turned off other times,” she said. “We kick water on on July 1 when the new budget starts, we get through the hottest months and then we really dial back. If we have warm springs, we start to see plant material suffer pretty badly.”
In order to increase the rates, city staff were required to mail surveys to homeowners in the district to gauge resident opinion.
Cuevas said 5407 surveys were mailed to Tustin Ranch residents, and about 1600 were returned. Of those returned ballots, about 68% supported the rate increase.
If a majority of returned surveys opposed the change, then council members would have been barred from voting to increase the rates.
One resident asked council members during the meeting to distribute costs more fairly, emphasizing that commercial properties should also pay more.
“Residents fund nearly all the maintenance-intensive portions of the district,” the speaker said. “This structure places a disproportionate financial burden on homeowners, especially new homeowners who already pay significantly higher property taxes under today’s market evaluations.”
Another speaker supported the rate increases but cautioned against further rate increases after five years.
“We’re supportive of the concept of having additional financial resources for the district to maintain high-quality landscaping and lighting because it helps maintain quality neighborhoods and property values,” the other speaker said. “We’re also not opposed to the five-year assessment increase, even though that’s a doubling of the annual increase to get to the rate that was determined to be necessary.”
Council members didn’t offer many comments during the meeting, but some offered a few thoughts about expanding the landscape and lighting district to other parts of the city.
“The Lighting and Landscaping District probably contributes greatly to the values in Tustin Ranch,” Councilmember Lee Fink said.
“I’m concerned about what some commenters said about extending that throughout the city because, although it would bring the beauty that’s in Tustin Ranch to the other parts of the city, there’s also the cost. I think it’s important to make sure Tustin Ranch has that maintenance and that doesn’t fall on other parts of the city to pick that up,” Fink said.
Mayor Austin Lumbard agreed.
“If 67.8% of the residents in other parts of the city want to have a district, they should let us know.”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.