Local News in Brief : Laguna Niguel : Niguel Cityhood Backers File Suit Against Lafco

Cityhood proponents have filed what may be the first in a series of lawsuits against the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, the agency that reviews incorporation proposals.

Members of the Laguna Niguel Citizens Task Force for Incorporation claimed in a lawsuit filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court that Lafco violated state laws when it voted Dec. 2 to include Laguna Niguel’s coastal region in an incorporation proposal for Dana Point and Capistrano Beach. The task force has sought to make inland and coastal Laguna Niguel all one city.

The state Government Code calls for the commission to consider how an incorporation will affect the areas next to the proposed city.

“Lafco put together Dana Point without seeing how that sizable area of Laguna Niguel would impact them (coastal residents) and vice versa,” task force co-chairman Bruce Rasner said Tuesday.

The suit also seeks to enjoin the commission from implementing the Dana Point incorporation until more environmental studies are completed, Rasner said. Residents in Dana Point, Capistrano Beach and coastal Laguna Niguel are scheduled to vote on the incorporation measure in the June 7 primary.

Rasner said other lawsuits may follow, including one charging the commission with violating the Brown Act, a state law making it illegal for public agencies to conduct meetings without public notice.