Council candidates Lee Fink, John Nielsen and Ryan Gallagher all have leads in the Tustin City Council races, where they’ll all play a strong role in determining how Tustin decides to look at development throughout the city.
Tustin now elects councilmembers by districts. Gallagher leads his opponent, Lana Clay, 69% to 30% in District 4.
Fink leads Planning Commissioner Tanner Douthit in District 1 by 51% to 48%.
District 2 was the only race with multiple candidates and Nielsen has a large lead over his opponents with more than 55% of the vote. Nathan Yeargin and Bill Esbit have 26% and 17%, respectively.
Fink and Nielsen would be new members of the City Council. The City Council is composed of four councilmembers and the mayor.
Candidates spoke of the opportunity in Tustin to grow with new businesses and homes while also respecting the city’s history.
Gallagher said he is excited to have the support from the community to return to the City Council. He felt that his concerns as a resident reflected what voters also care about: public safety and quality of life.
He said the community has a lot of momentum for new projects in Tustin Legacy, which is in his district. Those include new housing, new bridges, a new dog park and an experiential retail center comparable to The LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa.
He also said he’s looking forward to kicking off community engagement with a Tustin Legacy-focused subcommittee that will hold public meetings about the future of the former Marine Corps Air Station’s south hangar and north hangar site beginning next year.
“We have these opportunities to engage,” Gallagher said. “We need the public to participate so we can get this input early on.”
Fink, an attorney, said people are concerned about affordability in Tustin. The chance to address that, he said, comes with building in the Tustin Legacy neighborhood, but also on empty lots throughout the city, to make it easier for families to afford to live in Tustin.
“Tustin has the opportunity to actually do that, but we need a forward-thinking council to go try to build those places for people and families to live,” Fink said.
Fink also said he wants to create a system to make it easier for people to talk with someone at City Hall who can hear their concerns and address them.
Douthit trails Fink by about 200 votes. Douthit said he’s watching the count closely. Douthit said if elected he hopes to let it be known that Tustin is open for business and is cutting red tape.
A planning commissioner, Douthit said his priorities would also include helping Old Town Tustin maintain its identity while also ensuring that the city can grow responsibly.
“A lot of people have lived in the area for a very long time, and they just want to make sure some of the reasons people originally moved to Tustin stay applicable: A charming character, a good sense of community and walkable, friendly areas to eat and drink,” Douthit said.
Measure II, which would increase term limits for the mayor and councilmembers, also leads with 53% of voters in favor.
