LAGUNA BEACH : Council to Hear Annexation Bid

Laguna Audubon residents, many of whom bought their homes thinking they would be living in Laguna Beach and later discovered they were not, will ask the City Council this evening to consider annexing their community.

The annexation bid is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga involving Laguna Audubon residents, the Kathryn G. Thompson Development Co. and the adjacent city of Laguna Beach.

In 1989, residents sued Thompson Development and its advertising agency, claiming they were misled into believing their new single-family homes were within city limits.

The homes are part of the first phase of Laguna Audubon, near the intersection of Laguna Canyon and El Toro roads, and separated from a later phase by Aliso Creek Road.

A billboard, sales brochures, signs and sales documents identified the homes as being in Laguna Beach. Buyers received a list of useful telephone numbers, including Laguna Beach Police and Fire departments, neither of which serves the area.

In December, 1990, the Irvine-based developer settled with homeowners, offering $1.5 million in cash and promises of future payments totaling $4 million if the area is not annexed by the city by the end of 1994.

Sherri Honer, a Laguna Audubon resident and a leader in the annexation bid, said she has worked closely with representatives of the development company and that the company paid a consultant to prepare a required report analyzing the fiscal impact the annexation would have upon the city.

However, Honer said it is the residents, not the developer, who are pushing to unite their community of 289 homes with the city.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s irrelevant if the developer is helping us pay for the technical support and so forth,” said Honer, who was not involved in the lawsuit.

“The reason this annexation is proceeding to the City Council is not because Kathryn Thompson has any involvement in this,” Honer said. “It’s because the residents who lived here wanted it bad enough that we went door-to-door.”

Thompson Development could not be reached for comment.

In support of their bid for annexation, Honer said, Seacrest Heights and Seascape Villas residents identify with the coastal town where their children attend school.

“We have a lot of very strong ties with the city,” she said. “We’ve been involved in Laguna Beach, both with children, recreation and volunteering. We have a lot of residents in our community who were born in Laguna Beach.”

Tonight, the council receive a 200-signature petition favoring the annexation. But the proposal is sure to face opposition in a city that normally annexes land only to halt or control development.

The city’s staff will ask the council to gather public opinion about a possible annexation and to decide whether they should prepare a report analyzing the feasibility of such an effort.

A report prepared by a real estate consulting firm for annexation proponents says the city would net between $40,038 and $52,009 annually if it annexed the land.

But City Manager Kenneth C. Frank cautioned council members against relying on those figures until the city has conducted its own review.

Robert R. Mosier, president of the Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn., said he will ask the council to further explore annexation. “In reviewing the documents supplied to me, we’re in favor of it,” he said.

However, Johanna Felder, president of Village Laguna, which seeks to preserve the city’s village ambience, said she knows of no advantage the city would gain by pursuing this annexation.

“Where do you stop?” she said. “I think there are a lot of communities that would like to be a part of Laguna Beach.”