Small Coastal Communities to Get Vote on Joining Dana Point or Laguna Niguel

Dana Point and Laguna Niguel residents will get to vote on making their growing south county communities into full-fledged cities--but not until April, 1988, six months later than incorporation proponents had hoped, the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission decided Wednesday. Meanwhile, hoping to halt a “festering problem,” commissioners scheduled a Nov. 3 special election, for an advisory vote, to allow residents of six, small coastal communities to decide whether to join Dana Point or Laguna Niguel.

When they drew the boundaries of their large, mostly inland city a year ago, Laguna Niguel activists had included the six subdivisions--Monarch Bay, Monarch Beach, Monarch Terrace, Niguel Shores, Emerald Ridge and Regatta Homes.

But this March, a new group called Coastal Taxpayers for Local Control objected. They claimed that they were being railroaded into Laguna Niguel, that Laguna Niguel residents did not share their slow-growth, coastal concerns and that they would prefer to be part of Dana Point.

By a recent LAFC directive, the new city of Dana Point is to emerge from a combination of Dana Point and nearby Capistrano Beach. If the six coastal areas are included too, the new city of Dana Point could become a sprawling coastal city.

In hearings Tuesday and Wednesday, the conflict between Laguna Niguel and the Coastal Taxpayers representatives turned bitter, with some Laguna Niguel residents describing their adversaries as “elitists,” “subversives” and “dissidents.”

Also Wednesday, John Bulleit, a leader of Laguna Niguel’s incorporation, reminded commissioners that the coastal communities have been considered part of Laguna Niguel since the 1800s. “If you reach in and give a coastal sliver of Laguna Niguel into Dana Point, you’re cutting into the flesh. You’re carving up the original, historical Laguna Niguel,” Bulleit warned.

At stake in the dispute is not only a stretch of lovely coastline, but some significant tax revenue. The elegant Ritz-Carlton hotel is located in what is now called Laguna Niguel. An incorporation study last year estimated that the proposed city could reap $1.5 million in hotel taxes in 1985-86 and $4.4 million by 1991-1992, when other hotels were completed.

Hoping to end the dispute, county Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, an LAFC member, on Wednesday proposed the advisory vote for the coastal communities to be followed by the formal cityhood votes. By a 5-0 vote, the full commission agreed.

“It’s the only conclusive way to eliminate all arguments,” Stanton explained during a break in the commission’s 4 1/2-hour meeting in Santa Ana.

‘Festering Problem’

“If Lafco were to exercise its judgment into either of the cities (to force the disputed area into either new city), we would have a festering problem which would never end,” he said. “Generations of residents would be saying, ‘We never did get our chance to vote.’ ”

Even before the Wednesday’s decision for a coastal cities vote, Stanton announced that Dana Point’s 2 1/2-year-old drive toward incorporation had been delayed.

Because Dana Point’s boundaries include tidelands, it should have sought approval to incorporate from the State Lands Commission before petitioning LAFC, Stanton said. But Dana Point never contacted the State Lands Commission, so “there could be no November incorporation (vote)” for Dana Point, Stanton said.

Mike Eggers, a leader of Dana Point’s incorporation drive, called the State Lands Commission approval “nothing more than a legal glitch that will be resolved very quickly.” Wednesday afternoon Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, another commissioner, said his office would help Dana Point win the commission’s approval.

Eggers said he was disappointed that Dana Point/Capistrano Beach would not be voting on incorporation in November, but he applauded the decision to have a vote by the coastal communities.

‘Blunt and Fair’

“It’s going to put to rest the question of where those people on the coast want to be. It’s about as blunt and fair as you’re going to get,” he said.

Also pleased with the decision was Pat Bates, a Laguna Niguel cityhood leader and president of the Laguna Niguel Community Council. “I believe it at least gives us an opportunity for due process,” said Bates, who on Tuesday had feared that four of the five commissioners might simply include the coastal communities with Dana Point.

Stanton’s full motion on Dana Point and Laguna Niguel specified a timetable for incorporation:

On June 3, LAFC is to consider legal conditions under which the two communities would incorporate and resolve any other Laguna Niguel boundaries still in dispute, such as the location of the Bear Brand subdivision. The commission will then ask the Board of Supervisors to schedule an advisory election in the coastal cities for Nov. 3. Following that vote, the commission on Nov. 18 will fix boundaries for Dana Point and Laguna Niguel. Then LAFC will ask the supervisors to set an April, 1988, election for the two proposed cities.

Also Wednesday, commissioners considered a proposal to make the planned community of Mission Viejo into a city. But after hearing testimony both supporting and criticizing the proposal, they deferred a decision to June 17.