South County Cityhood Vote Boundaries Set

Laying the groundwork for a November special election, Orange County’s Local Agency Formation Commission set precise boundaries for a south county coastal area whose residents will get to choose which of two newly incorporating cities they will join.

The choice is between Dana Point and Laguna Niguel.

In a move that delighted Dana Point activists and angered those from Laguna Niguel, the commissioners, by a 5-0 vote, defined the coastal area’s inland boundary narrowly, setting it at a major street, Camino del Avion.

Significant Step

That means the vote in November will be limited to several thousand residents of a narrow coastal strip.

While the question of where to set the inland boundary may sound like a technical issue, it was a significant step in the cityhood drives, said Mike Eggers, a leader of Dana Point’s incorporation effort. For if the line defining the coastal voting area were moved too far inland and deeply into Laguna Niguel, that area’s more numerous residents would probably swing the vote in favor of joining with Laguna Niguel instead of Dana Point, Eggers said.

Over the last three months, many residents from the coastal area’s five subdivisions--Monarch Bay, Monarch Terrace, Monarch Beach, Emerald Ridge and Niguel Shores--have protested that they did not want their small communities forced into the new city of Laguna Niguel because they did not identify with that large and rapidly growing community. Meanwhile, Laguna Niguel residents have wanted the coastal areas to be part of their community, for without them their new city will be landlocked.

“The 5-0 vote on Del Avion was the key vote,” Eggers said. “It preserved the boundaries of the coastal strip.”

Shortly before the vote on Camino del Avion, Commissioner Donald Holt suggested setting the inland boundary more deeply into Laguna Niguel, along the coastal ridge line. However, his motion died for lack of a second.

‘Most Ridiculous Thing’

The panel then unanimously approved a motion by Commissioner Thomas F. Riley that drew the voting area boundaries inland to Camino del Avion, southwest to the current boundary of Dana Point at about Chula Vista Avenue, then north to South Laguna and the southern edge of the Three Arch Bay subdivision and west to the ocean.

But some Laguna Niguel residents were outraged. One man who did not identify himself watched the vote, then stalked out of the meeting, shouting, “I think that is the most ridiculous thing that you’ve voted. . . . You’re not having a public hearing.”

Echoing his complaint, Laguna Niguel community council member Lou Mazzarese took the stand as the meeting ended to denounce commissioners for failing to take any public testimony Wednesday. Outside the meeting, Mazzarese threatened to sue the LAFC for “not following the spirit of the law” in taking testimony and setting boundaries.

LAFC Chairman Phillip R. Schwarze disagreed that Mazzarese had a case. “We’ve had numerous hours of hearings on this,” Schwarze said. Wednesday’s deliberations were a continuation of a long May 5 meeting on the Dana Point and Laguna Niguel cityhood issues at which more than 50 speakers took the floor.

Tustin Annexation

At the May meeting, LAFC members set April, 1988, as the date for incorporation elections for both Dana Point and Laguna Niguel. But after hearing emotional testimony about whether coastal residents should be part of Laguna Niguel or Dana Point, the commissioners decided to let the residents of that area make their own decision and scheduled a November special election.

Also on Wednesday, LAFC commissioners unanimously approved the annexation of about 59 acres of unincorporated land in north Tustin to the City of Tustin. But they delayed until August a decision on a second proposed Tustin annexation of about 85 acres of north Tustin land that was controversial.

North Tustin resident Carol Shrider said that 53% of the area’s 532 residents now oppose the annexation. Residents in the rural area “do not face change quickly. They just flat out won’t do that (submit to annexation),” Shrider said. Acknowledging the controversy, Commissioner Roger R. Stanton noted that an April annexation by the City of Tustin of nearby land in north Tustin was now under fire by north Tustin residents in that area.

“I for one feel a reluctance to add two more logs to a fire that is already smoldering out there,” Stanton said. At his urging, commissioners continued the issue for 60 days.