11th-Hour Legal Advice Delays Cityhood Action

The county’s agency formation panel--angered by last-minute advice from its attorney--delayed action Wednesday on a Saddleback Valley cityhood proposal until June, sending away about 300 fuming south county residents who chartered buses to be at the meeting.

The Local Agency Formation Commission was advised by its attorney to postpone decisions on south county incorporation proposals until the panel can decide which areas should come under the sphere of influence of Mission Viejo, which became the county’s 27th city March 31.

Commissioners expressed their anger at LAFCO staff members for not bringing the attorney’s advice to their attention sooner, especially because the Saddleback Valley proposal had already been continued from a Feb. 3 meeting.

Proposal Calls for One City

The Saddleback Valley proposal calls for combining the communities of El Toro, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Laguna Terrace and Aegean Hills into one city.

County Supervisor and LAFCO Commissioner Gaddi H. Vasquez told the audience that he was “downright hostile” about the last-minute advice from LAFCO’s attorney, Deputy County Counsel Benjamin P. de Mayo.

“There have been continuances and a history of delays, discussions, deliberations and re-delays,” said Vasquez, a Mission Viejo resident who faces his first election in June to the 3rd Supervisorial District seat, to which he was appointed last year.

“We came out of a productive and extensive work session (last week) . . . and now we come down to this day and this 11th hour to find a section of the law that precludes us (from taking) action.”

The five commissioners said they had wanted to make a decision on the Saddleback proposal Wednesday, after a study session last week brought them up to date on the status of several incorporation, sphere-of-influence and annexation proposals for the vast remaining unincorporated land in south county. LAFCO is the county agency that decides such proposals.

After the meeting, LAFCO chairman Donald A. Holt said that south county residents “are out of pocket to charter their bus to come here in the cold, dreary, rainy weather for the sake of what they believe their community should or should not be. And now they’re belligerently outraged.”

Angry Remarks and Insults

Several of those residents uttered angry remarks and insults as they left the room, such as “It’s not fair!” and “We’re sick of this crap!”

Saddleback Valley incorporation leader Clyde Childress said his group lost about $1,000 in chartering three buses to the meeting.

“What they did is illegal,” Saddleback cityhood proponent Dick Anderson said after the meeting. “This is absolutely a flagrant violation of our rights.”

During the meeting, de Mayo said a section of the state Government Code states that before LAFCO can approve an incorporation proposal, it must review and adopt all cities’ spheres of influences that might contain the same unincorporated territory.

A sphere of influence is a term for an area adjacent to a city’s boundaries that a city eventually may seek to annex.

The Saddleback Valley cityhood proposal includes Aegean Hills, a community that is also included in Mission Viejo’s sphere-of-influence proposal, which was submitted to LAFCO last week. A group of Aegean Hills residents wants its community annexed to Mission Viejo.

Disagreed With Interpretation

LAFCO Executive Director Richard Turner said he didn’t agree with de Mayo’s interpretation of the law.

“Ben and I discussed verbally over the last couple of weeks what we could do,” Turner said after the meeting.

“I told him (the Mission Viejo sphere application) didn’t matter, and I still don’t think it does. How can you do a valid sphere of influence on a city that’s only been in existence for a few weeks?”

But de Mayo said it was his legal responsibility to give the commission his opinion. “I feel I have to tell LAFCO what they’re legally required to do,” de Mayo said after the meeting.

“I’m very definitely embarrassed,” LAFCO chairman Holt said after the meeting. “But taking advice from (the deputy) county counsel and Dick Turner are two different things. When the (deputy) county counsel renders an opinion, we’d really be derelict in our job to ignore it.”

LAFCO voted to hold a public hearing on Mission Viejo’s sphere of influence June 6. By that action, LAFCO effectively postponed two other public hearings on Laguna Niguel and Laguna Hills cityhood proposals, which had been scheduled for May.