Laguna Hills Group Applies for Cityhood; Fiscal Study Is Positive

A group of Laguna Hills residents has filed an incorporation application with the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, the agency that reviews cityhood and annexation proposals.

The application came on the heels of a recently completed financial feasibility study showing that the proposed city would have a $4.6 million surplus in its first year of operation.

Citizens to Save Laguna Hills had begun a petition drive for the incorporation proposal in January, after proponents for a Saddleback Valley city included Laguna Hills in its proposal for a larger city combining El Toro, Lake Forest, Aegean Hills and Laguna Terrace.

In two weeks, the Laguna Hills group gathered the required number of signatures for the application--25% of the 10,200 registered voters within its proposed boundaries, a 6.5-square-mile area west of the Interstate 5 including Laguna Hills, developed areas of Aliso Viejo, a few neighborhoods south of Leisure World, all of Nellie Gail Ranch, the Laguna Hills Mall and Oakbrook Village.

According to state law, a community can apply for cityhood by petition of registered voters or by vote of a governmental agency--such as a water district--that would be affected by incorporation.

The proposed city of Laguna Hills would have an estimated population of 20,310, which would increase to about 30,000 in eight years, according to the feasibility study, conducted by consultant Harry S. Weinroth of Weinroth & Associates in San Juan Capistrano.

“The revenue (will) continue to increase in the area, since many new shopping centers are opening or plan to open in the foreseeable future,” Weinroth stated in the study. “This, combined with the healthy initial surplus, results in a clear statement that a city of Laguna Hills is fiscally viable.”

The LAFCO staff is in the process of reviewing the proposal, said Jim Colangelo, LAFCO assistant executive director. The proposal probably will not come before the commission until mid-May at the earliest, he said.