Annexation plan divides cities’ leaders

West Santa Ana Heights in middle of tug of war between Costa Mesa, Newport Beach governments.As Newport Beach officials prepare for the possible annexation of West Santa Ana Heights, they face at least one difficult hurdle: continued objections from Costa Mesa.

West Santa Ana Heights is an unincorporated 64 acres now governed by Orange County that has been at the center of a tug of war between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach for several years.

The Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday will decide whether to apply to the Local Agency Formation Commission, a county group that controls annexations, to bring West Santa Ana Heights into the city fold.

To Newport officials, it’s a logical move. East Santa Ana Heights was annexed to the city in 2003, and Newport already is managing projects -- a fire station, a community center and a horse arena, for example -- for the entire Santa Ana Heights redevelopment agency.

Newport Beach also wants to take over management of the heights’ roughly $26-million redevelopment fund -- money that must be spent on projects to benefit the area and wouldn’t go into the city’s coffers.

“I think it needs to be really clear that the reason why Newport is looking at the annexation is we think it’s good government to be consistent and to have the redevelopment agency all under one jurisdiction,” Newport Beach Mayor Don Webb said.

But the annexation may not be that simple.

West Santa Ana Heights, the Santa Ana Country Club and a small neighborhood south of Mesa Drive are in Costa Mesa’s “sphere of influence,” meaning some years ago officials expected they would eventually be annexed to that city. Costa Mesa tried to annex those areas in 2002, but it never came to fruition.

That earlier failure doesn’t mean Costa Mesa officials are likely to give up now. Costa Mesa Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who was part of a two-city committee to discuss annexation, said Newport’s move is premature.

County annexation officials wanted the two cities to work out a solution, and Costa Mesa presented several proposals in that spirit, but Newport never responded, Foley said.

“Newport Beach has basically said, take it or leave it, all or nothing,” she said. “They’re not willing to sit down at the table [and] come to consensus or compromise.”

Santa Ana Heights residents have wanted their area to stay together, so they’re happy to see a movement toward annexation, said Barbara Venezia, chairwoman of a committee that represents Santa Ana Heights residents.

Residents in the area south of Mesa Drive and members of the Santa Ana Country Club still hope Newport will include them in the annexation, and they’re not interested in becoming part of Costa Mesa.

Newport’s application could also include a nine-parcel neighborhood on the north side of Churchill Street, and a portion of Newport’s general services facility on Industrial Way that is now within the boundaries of Costa Mesa.

If Newport Beach files an application to annex West Santa Ana Heights, it could take four to six months for the Local Agency Formation Commission to address the request, said Bob Aldrich, the commission’s assistant executive officer.

The commission will consider the fact that the area in question is in Costa Mesa’s sphere of influence, but that doesn’t preclude an annexation, Aldrich said.

“We had hoped both cities would kind of come in and come to some kind of understanding about how to divide up the last of this unincorporated area,” he said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson@latimes.com.