New City of Dana Point: Yes on B

It is time for the new city of Dana Point to be born. For more than two decades some of the area’s residents have been trying to incorporate Dana Point to preserve its historic identity and transfer control of its land use and destiny from the county seat to a local city council of resident representatives.

Proponents of cityhood will finally get the opportunity to vote on the issue Tuesday when Measure B appears on the ballot.

In 1966, a major annexation effort to incorporate the Dana Point-Capistrano Beach communities into the county’s 25th city was rejected on a split 3-2 vote of the Local Agency Formation Commission. At that time the proposed new city would have had a population of about 7,200 residents. Other subsequent efforts failed, although three new cities--Yorba Linda, Irvine and Mission Viejo --have been created since then.

If residents in the Dana Point, Capistrano Beach and coastal Laguna Niguel area give their approval, the 6-square-mile coastal area between Laguna Beach and San Clemente will become Orange County’s 28th city, with a population of about 25,000 residents--the fourth-largest in size at incorporation in county history.

Incorporation of the beach communities is inevitable. The trend is toward breaking up the south county area into cities, and the ultimate question is more when--not if--Dana Point, Capistrano Beach and coastal Laguna Niguel will become part of some city. It will be difficult for the seaside communities to remain unincorporated, and they should not exist as an isolated county island that drains county resources to serve it.

At one point, in 1971, there was talk of a “super city” made up of the cities of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point and Capistrano Beach. Last year LAFCO determined that Capistrano Beach did not have the financial strength to stand on its own as a city. Residents of coastal Laguna Niguel balked at being part of the proposed new Laguna Niguel city, and, in an advisory election, overwhelmingly voted to incorporate as part of Dana Point.

And now residents in the coastal area at long last have definite boundaries and on Tuesday will officially be able to make the choice that they have sought for so long. The numbers are there to support cityhood. Studies by a private consultant have determined that the proposed city’s first-year revenues would be about $9 million--a surplus of more than $2 million over what it would cost the new city to provide existing services to its residents.

The incorporation of the coastal area between Laguna Beach and San Clemente into the new city of Dana Point is financially feasible, politically possible and practical. We urge a Yes vote on Measure B to make it a reality.