Capistrano Beach Cityhood Plan Hits Snag : Key Land Parcel May Become Part of San Juan

In a move that could kill efforts to make Capistrano Beach an incorporated city, the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission staff has recommended that the 12.4-acre site of a planned shopping center be annexed by San Juan Capistrano.

A Capistrano Beach residents group has been trying to mount an incorporation attempt in the oceanside community of about 13,000. The group’s leaders said Monday that the loss of the shopping center site to San Juan Capistrano could doom Capistrano Beach’s chances of becoming an independent city.

Vote on Wednesday LAFC commissioners will vote on the proposed annexation Wednesday.

“That piece of property is crucial for us,” said Terry Lucarelli, a local real estate agent and one of the leaders of the incorporation effort. “We at least need the time to decide if we can get by without it.”

Great Western Savings, based in Beverly Hills, owns the land, plus an adjoining 10-acre parcel already within the San Juan Capistrano city limits. The company, with San Juan Capistrano’s blessing, applied for the annexation so it could sell the entire 23 acres to that city’s Redevelopment Agency for about $10 million.

The annexation is a condition of the city’s purchase agreement with the company, Great Western spokesman Kevin Hawkins said.

The city’s current plans for the site include a Price Club store and smaller retail shops and restaurants that would generate $1 million a year in sales taxes for the city once the development is complete, Hawkins said.

If the annexation is denied, “it’s very difficult to see this (development) proposal going through,” said Great Western Senior Vice President Ian Campbell. “So much of its economic attractiveness lies in the Redevelopment Agency’s ability to create improvements on the property.”

The Capistrano Beach group opposed the proposal at an LAFC hearing July 9, arguing that the community needs a strong tax base if it is to become a city. The parcel, the group said, is one of the few remaining pieces of property in Capistrano Beach that could generate a lot of revenue if developed. The LAFC board voted to delay action on the issue until this month.

Lucarelli said LAFC staff members told her group that they would have to show they were progressing toward incorporation if they were to have a chance at blocking the annexation.

Signatures to Be Presented

“We’ve got in excess of 1,000 signatures saying we want to incorporate and another 700 signatures saying we don’t want (the Great Western property) annexed,” Lucarelli said. “We’ve done a preliminary study, and we’ve hired a consultant. We’ve done what they said.”

Lucarelli said she plans to present the signatures at the LAFC meeting Wednesday. If she is successful in persuading the commission to deny the annexation proposal, the group will try to raise the $7,000 it needs to pay for an incorporation feasibility study, Lucarelli said.

LAFC Executive Director Richard Turner, who recommended against the annexation proposal in July because the property was not in San Juan Capistrano’s sphere of influence as defined earlier by the commission, said city officials had submitted enough information to persuade him to support the proposal this time around.

As for the Capistrano Beach group’s incorporation efforts, Turner said that “it’s up to them to convince the commission that they’re serious. I don’t know whether they are or not. You can’t hold up every annexation just because they say they’re going to incorporate. They’ve done that in the past.”

Turner scoffed at the Lucarelli group’s contention that the Price Club parcel will make or break their incorporation attempt. “If they have to rely on one 10- or 12-acre property, I think they’re in trouble to begin with,” he said.