Mission Viejo : New Group Pushes for Annexing Aegean Hills

A new group has launched a petition drive to annex Aegean Hills to the Mission Viejo Community Services District. Most residents of Aegean Hills already identify themselves as Mission Viejo residents, said Robert A. Curtis, an attorney who heads the newly formed Mission Viejo Taxpayers for Better Government.

Aegean Hills is a community of about 6,000 residents separated from the Mission Viejo planned community by railroad tracks.

Mission Viejo residents voted in November to form a local district to provide services that had been administered by the county. Those services are still provided by the county in Aegean Hills.

The group must gather the signatures of 179 registered voters to put the annexation request before the county Local Agency Formation Commission.

Christian Keena, president of the Mission Viejo services district board, said the board will remain neutral until the Aegean Hills residents make their wishes clear.

But Herbert Heyes, president of the Aegean Hills Homeowners Assn., an unofficial group that makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on local issues, said his group opposes annexation.