From: [email protected]
To: Yasuda, Erica; Woodward, Carrie; E-Comments
Subject: New eComment for Regular Meeting of the City Council/Special Closed Session-5:00 pm/Regular Meeting-6:00 pm Date: Monday, October 5, 2026 8:14:42 PM
City of Tustin, CA
New eComment for Regular Meeting of the City
Council/Special Closed Session-5:00 pm/Regular
Meeting-6:00 pm
Guest User submitted a new eComment.
Meeting: Regular Meeting of the City Council/Special Closed Session-5:00 pm/Regular Meeting6:00 pm Item: 5. SECOND READING AND ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE NO. 1581 DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT 2026-0002 FOR THE MARINERS CHURCH TUSTIN LEGACY PROJECT Adoption of Ordinance No. 1581 approves Development Agreement 2026-0002 to facilitate the development and conveyance of the 3.324-acre City-owned site for the Mariners Church Tustin Legacy project.
eComment: Dear Mayor, Members of the Tustin City Council, and Candidates for City Council, I have been a Tustin resident since 1999, born in Santa Ana and attended Tustin schools and I am writing about the Mariners Church development and the speed and favorable terms with which it is moving through the city's approval process. I want to be clear that I am a person of faith myself. My concern is not with religion. It is with fairness. Tustin is home to people of many faiths, and the city should be open to all of them equally. A single church primarily serves its own congregation, which is a small part of our community. Public land and public decisions should benefit all Tustin residents. I attended last week's council meeting, and Council Member Lee raised important points. As Council Member Lee noted, there is still no solid agreement guaranteeing the public access to use this site for events and meetings. That should be settled in writing before anything moves forward, not after. When council members push to rush a project like this through, it looks like an effort to win favor with the church rather than to serve the public. That is especially troubling when members of that same church sit on the council voting on it. Whether or not anything improper has happened, this process does not pass the test of public trust. I am asking for the following: 1. An independent investigation. This deal should be reviewed by a neutral third party or an outside government agency, not by the city itself. The people approving a project should not be the ones deciding whether it was handled fairly. 2.
Disclosure and recusal. Any council member who belongs to Mariners Church, or has any personal, financial, or leadership tie to it, should state that publicly and recuse themselves from every discussion and vote on this project. 3. Full transparency. The city should make public all conversations and communications about this project between Mariners Church, council members, and city staff, including emails, letters, texts, and notes from meetings. Residents should be able to see how this deal came together. 4. A fair and open process for the land. Why has the city not opened this opportunity to other faiths and organizations? I ask the city to open the land to competitive bidding and accept the offer that brings the greatest benefit to all residents of Tustin, not only those who attend Mariners Church. 5. Leadership from the rest of the council and from candidates. I call on every council member and every candidate seeking a seat to ask the questions residents are asking: Why was this project fast-tracked? What terms did it receive that others did not? Who personally benefits? Anyone who wants the public's trust should be willing to ask these questions openly. This should not stop with one project. I encourage my fellow residents to look closely at this deal, and I believe all of us, the council included, should be giving the same scrutiny to other developments in Tustin and to the council members who approve them. If this project was handled fairly, an independent review, full transparency, and an open bidding process will show that. If it was not, the public deserves to know before anything moves forward. Please enter this letter into the public record. - Josh View and Analyze eComments
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