March 2024 primary election returns for North Orange County and Yorba Linda

Yorba Linda again easily outdistanced the six other North Orange County cities served by this newspaper in voter turnout for the March 5 primary election. Yorba Linda has topped the local turnout in the past two decades in both primary and general elections.

Yorba Linda's turnout was 45% of 48,076 registered voters. Other cities: 40% of 31,592 Placentia voters; 39% of 29,499 Brea voters, 38% of 9,741 La Palma voters; 34% of 77,903 Fullerton voters; 31% of 33,927 La Habra voters; and 28% of 44,481 Buena Park voters (all percentages are rounded).

Donald Trump won the Republican vote and Joe Biden the Democratic vote in all seven cities,.with the following percentages: 77% and 86% in Yorba Linda, 76% and 87% in Brea, 76% and 87% in Placentia, 80% and 82% in La Habra, 76% and 87% in La Palma, 75% and 84% in Fullerton and 82% and 82% in Buena Park.

In the full-term Senate race, Steve Garvey ran first, Adam Schiff second, Katie Porter third and Barbara Lee fourth in all seven cities.

In percentages, Garvey and Schiff won 54% and 18% in Yorba Linda, 45% and 23% in Brea, 42% and 22% in Placentia, 39% and 25% in La Habra, 37% and 24% in La Palma, 37% and 23% in Fullerton and 35% and 26% in Buena Park.

Percentages for Porter and Lee were 11% and 3% in Yorba Linda, 15% and 5% in Brea, 16% and 5% in Placentia, !4% and 4% in La Habra, 11% and 4% in La Palma, 18% and 6% in Ful-lerton and 15% and 5% in Buena Park.

Proposition 1, the mental health and homeless bond, lost in all seven cities, with “no” votes totaling 70% in Yorba Linda, 62% in Brea, 60% in Placentia, 59% in La Habra and La Palma, 57% in Fullerton and 55% in Buena Park.

The contest for county Board of Education Area 3 posted interesting numbers. Winner and 24-year incumbent Ken Williams took the parts of Brea, La Habra, Placentia and Yorba Linda in Area 3, but rival Nancy Watkins won three of the five Placentia council districts (1, 3 and 5).

Four of the six winners from the 23 candidates who sought seats on the Orange County Republican Central Committee representing the Orange County portion of the 59^th state Assembly District hold other elective offices representing Yorba Linda.

They include former City Council member and current water board director Gene Hernandez, North Orange County Community College trustee Ryan Bent, Placentia-Yorba Linda school trustee Leandra Blades and City Council member Janice Lim.

The other two winners are Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner and GOP party activist Jon Fleischman. Also in the race was City Council member Beth Haney, who placed ninth.

The six winners from the eight candidates for the county Democratic Central Committee are Florice Hoffman, Izeah Garcia, Isabella Rubio, Leandra Cruz, Eugene Fields and Arnel Dino.

The Orange County portion of the 59^th District includes all or major portions of Yorba Linda, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Anaheim Hills, North Tustin, Orange and Villa Park.

Third phase of Yorba Linda housing program begins; lower estimate for sales tax revenue

 This month marks the beginning of a third phase of Yorba Linda city officials working with a consultant to provide community engagement and public outreach assistance related to revisions in the city's General Plan Housing Element for a 2021-29 planning period.

The current phase is part of a two-year-long city effort to meet a state requirement to provide opportunities primarily through zoning changes for 2,415 new housing units in the 20-square-mile city or face severe state- and court-imposed penalties.

The third phase will run through June, when City Council members are expected to place a measure on the November general election ballot that – if approved by a majority vote – will permit the zoning changes necessary to preserve state certification of the city's housing plan.

A fourth phase of the continuing public outreach effort will run from the date of council's ballot measure placement through Dec. 31 with the Tripepi Smith consultant group, which was hired in April 2023 to begin the public outreach process in two initial phases.

Expert guidance was needed when Measure Z, the city's first effort to win voter approval for rezoning sufficent land to meet the 2,415-unit mandate, was defeated by 75% of the vote in November 2022.

A public vote on the matter is required by Measure B – the so-called “right-to-vote” initiative – which passed in 2006 with a 299-vote margin during a controversy that was related to former plans for a Town Center development.

One portion of the public outreach plan was formation of a Housing Policy Resident Working Group, a 17-member committee that hashed out a zoning change proposal forwarded to the council last year and will form the basis of zone changes for the planned November vote.

According to a March 5 report from Community Development Director David Brantley, “Staff intends to continue to conduct extensive public outreach to ensure that Yorba Linda residents (and voters) have all the pertinent information to make an informed decision come November.”

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Yorba Linda sales tax revenue is projected to be $440,000 less than anticipated when the current fiscal year budget was adopted, based on a mid-year update presented to council.

City Finance Director Dianna Honeywell reported to the council, “Decreases in sales taxes are driven mainly by declines in general consumer goods, which includes lower gasoline sales impacted by lower gasoline prices.”

She added: “Home furnishing stores have also declined more significantly than originally anticipated as consumers shift spending from the purchase of tangible goods...to leisure, entertainment and travel.” Also negatively impacted is the business and industry sector.

Partially alleviating the sales tax loss is $265,000 in lower payments to the Sheriff's Department in part because the city overestimated the raises eventually granted its employees when the budget was adopted.