TO BE OR NOT TO BE : Cityhood Is the Question for Upscale-but-Landlocked Laguna Niguel

Just by driving down Crown Valley Parkway, one can get the feel of Laguna Niguel.

The parkway, like the community itself, is sleek, modern, vibrant. Nothing seems old; nothing seems slow.

Only a few years ago, Laguna Niguel was pastureland. Now the hills are studded with upscale subdivisions. The area’s population grew 252% between 1980 and 1988, while all of Orange County grew 16%.

Now this dynamic, fast-growing community could become Orange County’s 29th incorporated city. The election is set for Nov. 7, and the issue is the most closely watched political development in South Orange County this fall, mainly because the outcome will affect much of South County.

The proposed city would contain about 40,000 residents and would extend from Mission Viejo to Laguna Beach.

One resident group has announced opposition to cityhood, but veteran South Orange County political observers say that all other signs indicate strong community support for incorporation. Many residents favoring cityhood have said the biggest battle was getting the issue before the voters.

“We started working for cityhood in 1986, but Mission Viejo and Dana Point still got to vote (on cityhood) before us,” said Margaret Betanzos, a leader in the pro-cityhood drive.

James Colangelo, executive director of the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, the agency with power over local incorporations, agreed that Laguna Niguel’s three-year battle has been the longest of any South Orange County community. The biggest reason for the delay, he said, was a coastal area that the community wanted to acquire but that other communities wanted too.

Laguna Niguel has been encircled by areas caught up in South Orange County’s incorporation fever in the past three years. South Laguna, which borders Laguna Niguel, opted for annexation to Laguna Beach two years ago. Mission Viejo and Dana Point voted to become new cities last year.

Last June, a proposal to create the city of Laguna Hills, the northern neighbor of Laguna Niguel, was narrowly defeated.

In the past three years, two key coastal areas that Laguna Niguel might have included within its boundaries, South Laguna and Monarch Beach, were lost to other cities.

“I feel sympathetic for Laguna Niguel and the frustrations it’s faced,” said James Danziger, chairman of the political science department at UC Irvine. Danziger, who was active in the drive in 1987 to get his home area of South Laguna annexed to Laguna Beach, said he knows firsthand about the disappointments. They include loss of “a coastal window,” such as South Laguna and Monarch Beach, Danziger noted.

In a move last year that infuriated Laguna Niguel residents, the Local Agency Formation Commission voted to put Monarch Beach in Dana Point. Commission members said that an advisory vote by Monarch Beach residents showed they wanted to be part of Dana Point. But Laguna Niguel community leaders argued that the commission had handpicked the area allowed to vote in the advisory election. Had the area been bigger, the vote would have been in favor of Laguna Niguel, they claimed.

Pro-cityhood forces in Laguna Niguel have filed a lawsuit contesting Dana Point’s right to the 1 1/2-mile coastal strip. The affluent region contains the Ritz-Carlton hotel, a huge tax generator.

“Our goal is simply to work to become a city,” said Denny Harris, who with Betanzos and Jim Olmsted make up the executive committee of the 60-member Citizens for Cityhood-Laguna Niguel.

Harris said Laguna Niguel can best pursue its goals if it becomes a city. “We have to have a city to attach Monarch Beach to when we win the court case,” Harris said.

Even without Monarch Beach, Laguna Niguel could survive financially, according to a commission staff study. It projected that Laguna Niguel would have at least a $1.8-million surplus in its budget after its first year.

The sole organization that has announced opposition to Laguna Niguel cityhood bases its campaign on the possibility of higher taxes. Debi Larsen, spokeswoman for Stop Cityhood, said last week that the group was formed about four weeks ago and has 20 members. She said Stop Cityhood fears that homeowners might have to pay special assessments.

Harris, Betanzos and Olmsted said such fears are groundless. They said that Laguna Niguel will be financially well off and that no assessments or new taxes will be needed.

But Larsen said, “If you just look at the budget (of the proposed city), it speaks for itself. There’s a lot of expensive things in that budget, and there’s not that much money coming in.”

Stop Cityhood’s efforts have not been very visible so far. But Larsen said the group hopes to get in touch with all the homeowners’ associations in Laguna Niguel before Nov. 7.

“We’re also meeting with the homeowners’ associations,” said Betanzos. She said the pro-cityhood group has been registering voters at various shopping centers in recent weeks.

Much of the interest in the Nov. 7 election is over the City Council race, Olmsted said. Laguna Niguel will have a five-person City Council if the cityhood referendum passes. Twenty-three candidates have filed for those five seats, and the top five vote-getters in the at-large election will become council members.

Harris said Citizens for Cityhood-Laguna Niguel would not endorse any council candidates, and none of the group’s members are running for council.

The Laguna Niguel cityhood vote will be a turning point for South Orange County, no matter how it turns out, said Newport Beach City Councilwoman Evelyn R. Hart, chairwoman of the commission. She has advised Laguna Hills to “wait until after Laguna Niguel votes” before pursing cityhood again. Many in Laguna Niguel say that the implications are obvious: Other nearby areas, including Laguna Hills, may try to annex Laguna Niguel if it doesn’t become a city itself.

“If we don’t make it, the feeling of a lot of us is that we’ll be piecemealed out to other places,” Harris said.

LAGUNA NIGUEL / ORANGE COUNTY COMPARISONS

POPULATION

LAGUNA NIGUEL 1980: 12,237 1988: 43,053 Change: 252%

ORANGE COUNTY 1980: 1,932,709 1988: 2,243,324 Change: 16%

LAGUNA NIGUEL / ORANGE COUNTY COMPARISONS

LAGUNA NIGUEL ORANGE COUNTY 1980 1988 1980 1988 AGE 0-17 years 27% 24% 27% 24% 18-34 years 23 19 32 30 35-64 years 40 46 32 36 65 and older 10 11 8 10 YEARLY HOUSEHOLD INCOME Less than $7,500 5% 2% 12% 7% $7,500--24,999 32 9 44 23 $25,000--39,999 31 17 27 21 $40,000--74,999 27 37 15 34 More than $75,000 6 34 3 15 Average $36,634 $68,751 $26,714 $45,160 PROPERTY Owner 87% 90% 61% n/a Renter 14 10 40 n/a

n/a Not Available

Source: Laguna Niguel Community Services District