San Clemente Examines Switch to S.D. County

Calling it “the city that Orange County forgot,” members of the state Senate Local Government Committee suggested Wednesday that San Clemente’s best chance of getting paid for services it renders south of its limits would be to secede from Orange County and become part of San Diego County.

Although sympathetic to the city’s plight, senators said legislation that would allow San Clemente to annex San Diego County territory is not likely to win approval in the near future.

San Clemente is one of several California cities that touch county borders and local officials are interested in annexations that would allow the cities to straddle county lines.

Twenty-six other states allow city limits to cross county lines, and a bill and accompanying constitutional amendment by Sen. Rose Ann Vuich (D-Dinuba) would allow such annexations in California.

But senators said Wednesday that, before that legislation is approved, they would like to see if a new law authored by Sen. Milton Marks (R-San Francisco), which makes county boundary changes easier, can solve problems like those in San Clemente.

San Clemente City Manager James Hendrickson, who appeared at a hearing conducted by the Senate panel Wednesday in San Diego, said the city is not interested in joining San Diego County.

Hendrickson said San Clemente is interested in annexing territory stretching to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, just south of its borders, because it currently gets little or no compensation for scores of fire, police and paramedic runs it makes annually in that area.

Under a new contract that took effect last week, San Diego County will pay San Clemente as much as $5,000 annually for paramedic runs into the county. But because it is in Orange County, the city will get none of the $27.4 million in property taxes that the nuclear power plant’s owners must pay next year.

Oceanside City Councilman Ted Marioncelli said allowing San Clemente to annex territory in San Diego County would trade “one set of problems for a host of others.”

Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino) agreed. The legislation might touch off an annexation battle between Pomona, at the Los Angeles County line, and Chino, just inside San Bernardino County.

Committee members were critical of Orange County officials, particularly Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Riley, for not attending Wednesday’s hearing. Marks, who chairs the panel, said Orange County officials were invited to testify.

“It seems to me that a large part of your problem is the Orange County Board of Supervisors,” Marks said.

Sen. William Craven (R-Oceanside) said he has been charmed by San Clemente for 45 years, “since there were only 3,000 people there and everybody had a red tile roof.”

“I’ve always felt that San Clemente was the city that Orange County forgot,” Craven added. “ . . . Maybe you ought to become part of San Diego County.”

San Clemente Mayor Robert L. Linberg said distance may have once isolated the city, but he said, “We are now becoming a full member of the Orange County community.”

Vuich’s legislation to allow cross-county annexations stalled in committee earlier this year after the County Supervisors Assn. of California and other groups voiced objections.

Although 26 states allow cities to straddle county lines, courts in California have thrown up constitutional roadblocks. Local officials opposed to the concept say it would cause widespread confusion in everything from tax collections to police and fire calls.

Backers say such annexations can improve services and allow cities on county borders to get a fair share of tax revenues from nearby commercial and residential developments.

The hearing on Vuich’s bill was the second by the Senate panel during the current legislative recess. The committee, which may consider the legislation again next year, held a hearing last month in Fresno.

The League of California Cities at first supported Vuich’s bill, then became neutral after Marks wrote alternative legislation to facilitate changes in county boundaries. Despite San Clemente’s interest, Orange County has not taken a position.

Besides San Clemente, California cities interested in annexations beyond county boundaries include Kingsburg (Fresno County), Watsonville (Santa Cruz County), Galt (Sacramento County) and Delano (Kern County).