RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA : Residents in No Big Rush for Cityhood

Cityhood might come later rather than sooner for Rancho Santa Margarita following a town hall-style meeting last week on the question of incorporation.

Although a large crowd turned out to hear a panel of officials from newly incorporated cities in South County last Thursday, few expressed a desire to rush toward cityhood.

“Incorporation takes an awful lot of work by a lot of people,” said panel member Jim Colangelo, executive director of the Local Agency Formation Commission, a regional planning group that regulates incorporations. “Unless there’s an awful lot of support for it, cityhood isn’t going to work.”

Still, one common sentiment at the gathering, said Jack Wynns, a member of the Rancho Santa Margarita Civic Assn. and the cityhood committee, was that “we’re in a very favorable position because of the way this community has been planned. I felt that really came out strongly at the meeting.”

Most of about 100 people who attended were content to listen to the panel, which included Councilman William S. Craycraft of Mission Viejo, Councilwoman Patricia A. Bates of Laguna Niguel and Councilman Richard T. Dixon of Lake Forest, Wynns said.

The cityhood committee, which is composed of members of the civic association, will meet in the near future to discuss their next move, Wynns said.

A planned community of about 15,000 people, Rancho Santa Margarita is still taking shape. Many attending the meeting feel that the area should wait for downtown development, known as the Town Center, to near completion before pushing for incorporation.

The Town Center would include a mixture of civic buildings, including a city hall, retail outlets and office space. The Santa Margarita Co., developer of the planned community, estimates that the downtown area will be finished in about eight years.

However, several retail establishments will be going up within two to four years. A Pavilions grocery store will hold its grand opening later this month.

Although it has reserved space for a city hall, the development company officially remains neutral on Rancho Santa Margarita cityhood.

The timing on launching a cityhood drive is uncertain, Wynns said, but nearly everyone at the meeting supported the eventual incorporation of Rancho Santa Margarita.

Jerry Patterson, city attorney for Dana Point and Lake Forest, who attended Thursday’s meeting, “said it best,” according to Wynns: “ ‘The best government is one that’s closest.’ ”