LAFCO and Santa Clarita Cityhood

The leaders of cityhood efforts in the Santa Clarita Valley and in Calabasas should watch the machinations of the Local Agency Formation Commission very carefully. As with previous cityhood efforts elsewhere, the LAFCO staff is already suggesting reductions in boundaries and delays in approvals.

The reductions in boundaries generally serve to exclude major land developments from local control by the new city. In other cityhood attempts, the LAFCO staff worked actively with owners of undeveloped land to exclude their properties from the new cities. The result--if completely successful--would have been “Swiss cheese” incorporations, which are contrary to state laws. The actual results have been cities with major developments just beyond their boundaries. Although these developments have significant impacts on city streets, parks, and other facilities, Los Angeles County firmly denies the affected cities any control over such developments.

The delays in holding cityhood elections have often served to allow land developers additional time to obtain Los Angeles County approvals for their projects. Once those approvals have been given by the county, the new city is generally unable to stop such developments even when the land is within city boundaries.

Another tactic used by the LAFCO staff--this one in an attempt to defeat entirely a cityhood movement--is the surprise discovery of negative data to show why a city should not be incorporated. Often, these data are not revealed until the final LAFCO hearing on the cityhood proposal, giving the leaders of the cityhood effort little or no time to refute the staff presentation.

The result is that the cityhood leaders must either accept a hasty reduction in the size of the new city (to the great joy of land developers) or else abandon cityhood entirely (to the even greater joy of land developers). No one on the LAFCO staff is ever able to explain why the negative data could not have been revealed earlier, when refutation or alternatives could be developed by the cityhood advocates.

DAVID E. ROSS

Agoura