LAFCO Recommends Extended Boundaries : Cityhood for Rancho Santa Fe Receives Boost

Efforts by this wealthy estate community to become San Diego County’s 19th city received a major boost Thursday when a key agency charged with approving incorporations gave its blessing to Rancho Santa Fe’s quest for home rule.

Analysts with the Local Agency Formation Commission ended months of speculation by concluding in a report issued Thursday that the eucalyptus-shrouded village east of Del Mar has the financial fiber necessary to sustain a local government. LAFCO’s eight-member board of commissioners will vote on the cityhood proposal next month.

The long-awaited agency endorsement was clearly good news for cityhood promoters, who hope to bring the home rule issue before voters in June, 1987. Still, the lengthy report was not everything they had hoped for.

LAFCO officials recommended that the proposed city’s boundary extend significantly beyond that advocated by incorporation proponents, meaning the municipality would encompass 12 square miles of territory rather than the 9.6 square miles originally suggested.

In addition, the agency proposes that the new city’s so-called “sphere of influence”--which identifies land that ultimately may be annexed by a municipality--include a 4.5-square-mile fringe of property around Rancho Santa Fe, an area local officials had not sought to control.

Those boundary changes undoubtedly caused some grumbling Thursday among local incorporation proponents. Don Frick, a spokesman for the Study Committee on Home Rule, which is spearheading the cityhood drive, said the group would have no comment on the LAFCO recommendation until after a meeting next week.

Committee members in recent months have consistently advocated the narrower city boundary because it matches the outer limit of the Rancho Santa Fe Covenant, an area covered by a strict set of rules established in 1927 to uphold the community’s character.

Residents living within the covenant, managed by the quasi-governmental Rancho Santa Fe Assn., adhere to guidelines governing everything from permissible landscaping to a resident’s right to hang laundry in public view. Homeowners also pay fees to enjoy privileges like memberships at the community golf and tennis clubs.

The pro-incorporation forces have expressed concerns that the larger city boundary favored by LAFCO could create friction between the roughly 4,300 Rancho Santa Fe residents within the covenant and the 575 outside of its limits. Expansion of the covenant to include new members appears unlikely because homeowners fear it would put a strain on the recreational facilities.

“We viewed the (covenant) boundary as the easiest one to sell and felt it was the most natural in terms of geography” and community identity, Frick said. Indeed, some leaders have expressed fears that a wider boundary would be seen as a threat to the exclusive ambiance of Rancho Santa Fe and could doom cityhood at the polls.

Despite such worries, LAFCO officials argue that the larger boundary is more logical from a geographical standpoint because it will not leave “pockets” of unincorporated county territory. Moreover, the wider boundary will permit Rancho Santa Fe to better control land-use in the area, a goal that has helped fuel the cityhood movement.

“The boundary we’re recommending would allow the new City Council to control the provision of services in the area around them, and that is directly related to when and where development occurs,” said LAFCO analyst Michael Ott, who prepared the Rancho Santa Fe report. “We believe this is something the city should control from day one.”

In addition, the larger boundary recommended by LAFCO makes sense because the surrounding communities targeted for inclusion in the city already are linked both economically and socially with Rancho Santa Fe, Ott said.

Under LAFCO’s recommendation, the city would include the 9.6-square-mile covenant area plus 1,470 additional acres to the north, including the communities of Rancho del Lago, Hacienda Santa Fe, Canyon Creek and South Pointe Farms.

The recommended sphere of influence for the city extends 4.5 square miles beyond the city boundary and encompasses the communities of Whispering Palms, Horsemen’s Valley, Rancho Sereno, Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho del Rio. It abuts the cities of Encinitas, Solana Beach and San Diego.

As for the proposed city’s financial picture, LAFCO concluded that despite a weak sales tax base, Rancho Santa Fe does have the financial means to support home rule, an issue that had been in doubt.

Under the recommended boundaries, Rancho Santa Fe would realize a budget surplus of $176,114 after the 1988-89 fiscal year, its first full year of operation. That figure represents a 12.7% surplus of revenues over expenditures, a level below the 15% standard that LAFCO typically requires of newly incorporating cities.

“If a city is below that 15% mark, it is not automatically declared infeasible,” Ott explained. “Poway and Santee, for example, had surpluses of below 10% when they incorporated, and they are both very healthy cities today.”

Ott said that the 12.7% margin is “acceptable” in Rancho Santa Fe’s case because of the “natural increases in revenue” that will come with economic and population growth.

In addition, a recently enacted state law extends until 1995 a bonus the new city would receive in its share of motor vehicle, cigarette and gasoline taxes residents pay to the state. That law significantly enhanced the long-range economic security for Rancho Santa Fe, Ott said.

For the county, the incorporation of Rancho Santa Fe would mean a $324,500 loss of revenues during 1987-88 and a loss of $33,600 the following year.

If LAFCO’s board of commissioners approves the incorporation proposal at a public hearing Dec. 3, the issue then goes to the county Board of Supervisors. The board must approve the item and order an election unless written protests are filed by 50% or more of the registered voters residing within the cityhood boundaries.

Supporters of home rule say local government is vital if Rancho Santa Fe is to maintain its semi-rural character, prevent the intrusion of high-density development and beef up traffic enforcement and other services.

In addition, local civic leaders say cityhood may be the only way to block county plans to widen two roadways that cut through the peaceful village. Residents favor construction of two major highways that bypass Rancho Santa Fe, but the county so far has not found money for those routes.