Laguna Niguel : Unified Services District Again Recommended

For the second time this year, the county Local Agency Formation Commission has recommended that residents vote on forming a unified community services district.

The commission voted unanimously this week not to divide Laguna Niguel into separate coastal and inland districts, as many residents of the more established coastal communities had wanted.

Instead, it recommended that the November ballot include a proposal for a single Laguna Niguel district that would control services such as parks and recreation, slope maintenance, street sweeping and lighting.

The Board of Supervisors, which first recommended creating a Laguna Niguel services district last year, is expected to approve the election at its June 25 meeting, Laguna Niguel Community Council member Ingrid McGuire said.

McGuire said she will probably support the ballot issue, but she thought that the Local Agency Formation Commission should have given residents the option of voting for separate districts as well. “Many of my constituents are very disappointed,” said McGuire, who was elected to the council in April. “They wanted their own separate district. . . . Now they feel there is nothing they can do about it.”

Earlier this year, the commission recommended placing a similar measure on the June ballot, but an appeal by a bloc of coastal homeowner associations succeeded in reopening public hearings on the issue.

The new recommendation excludes the communities of Monarch Bay, Emerald Ridge and Dana Woods from the proposed services district boundaries.