Santa Ana Heights added to city plan

June Casagrande

The City Council took an important first step toward annexing the

remaining parts of Santa Ana Heights on Tuesday, but annexation

remains uncertain.

The council voted 5 to 0 Tuesday night to add to the city’s

general plan zoning the western portion of Santa Ana Heights, the

Santa Ana Country Club and the nearby area south of Mesa Drive. Tod

Ridgeway and Gary Proctor were absent.

The vote doesn’t change the zoning, it just officially documents

the area in the city’s general plan, which is a first step in

annexing the area.

“This will allow the council, if they choose to at a future date,

to submit an application to [the county] to annex the area,” City

Manager Homer Bludau said.

That question could come before the council in the next few

months, but some serious issues will have to be ironed out. City

staff members have said that they will only annex the remaining parts

of Santa Ana Heights if they can also gain control of the area’s

redevelopment agency. The agency, which the county now administers,

generates several million dollars a year through special property

taxes earmarked for area improvements. About $30 million has accrued

in its bank accounts, and the money will keep coming until 2035, when

the agency expires.

If the city did take over the agency, it would still have to spend

the money fixing up Santa Ana Heights. But city officials have said,

and residents and county Supervisor Jim Silva have agreed, that the

city could put this money to better use for the residents than the

county can.

Earlier this month, the county agreed to cooperate with the city

in using redevelopment money to pay for a fire station and a

community center for residents in that neighborhood.

“It’s certainly a good sign that they’re allowing us to use that

money in the area and run the projects,” Bludau said.

The Santa Ana Country Club could also complicate annexation. Like

the western portion of Santa Ana Heights, the club had been slated

for eventual annexation to Costa Mesa. But Costa Mesa doesn’t want to

let go of the country club. Newport Beach officials have said they

would be willing to take in the club if the county agrees.

“The council may decide to include the country club in our

annexation application and let [the county] decide,” Bludau said.

The eastern portion of Santa Ana Heights, along with some other

areas, became part of Newport Beach on July 1. Their neighbors to the

west have argued that Santa Ana Heights is a single community with a

single identity and a shared redevelopment agency.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.