Rancho Santa Fe Takes First Step Toward Cityhood

North County could have its third new city in a single year by next summer if leaders of an incorporation drive here can convince a county agency and voters that local government is the answer to the town’s woes.

Residents piloting a campaign for incorporation in this exclusive estate community said Thursday that they have gathered 1,003 signatures--well over the required number--to qualify a cityhood measure for the ballot.

Don Frick, spokesman for the Study Committee on Home Rule, said the signatures and a formal application to incorporate have been presented to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which must approve all bids for cityhood before they go before voters.

LAFCO analysts will now review the application to determine whether a City of Rancho Santa Fe could support itself and whether the proposed boundaries are logical. Then, late this year, a public hearing before LAFCO’s commissioners will be held, paving the way for a vote on home rule in June, 1987.

“Completion of the application was a critical step for us,” Frick said. “Now I suppose there’s a lull and we just sort of sit back and wait for a verdict from LAFCO.”

Frick and fellow incorporation proponents say they were spurred to take action by lax land-use standards approved by the Board of Supervisors and county plans to widen several roads through the sleepy hamlet. They are billing local government as the best defense against the growth nibbling at their borders and the best tool for preserving the town’s rural character.

Similar sentiments led to the birth of two neighboring cities--Solana Beach and Encinitas--at the polls last month. If incorporated, Rancho Santa Fe would be the smallest city in the county, with about 4,200 residents.

Despite its diminutive size, the city would have a surplus of more than $100,000 annually in its first two years of operation, according to consultants who prepared a feasibility study for the incorporation campaign. Property taxes and the Rancho Santa Fe Inn account for a large portion of the area’s income.

In addition to the rosy financial picture, Rancho Santa Fe leaders can boast of experience in self-government. For 60 years, directors of the Rancho Santa Fe Assn. have influenced life in town through the administration of a protective covenant, a strict set of community rules regulating everything from landscaping to a resident’s right to hang laundry in public view.

But one issue--boundaries--remains a question mark. Cityhood boosters hope to incorporate only the area covered by their covenant. Rancho Santa Fe’s proposed sphere of influence, a term referring to the area targeted for ultimate annexation, would border Solana Beach, Encinitas, Via de la Valle and an undeveloped area to the east.

Such a boundary would leave pockets of unincorporated territory, a practice that LAFCO has discouraged. Michael Ott, a senior analyst with LAFCO, said alternative boundaries will be examined.

“There are other areas that may relate to the city, like Whispering Palms as well as some territory to the east,” Ott said. “It may be that those should logically be included.”