Mission Viejo Co. Asks to Fund Annexation Vote

In what is likely to further fuel a simmering dispute over control of the fledgling city of Mission Viejo, the Mission Viejo Co. offered Thursday to pay for an advisory election on whether to expand the planned community by annexing Aegean Hills.

The offer marks the latest salvo in a battle between the company, which developed the community more than 20 years ago and is opposed to expansion, and the City Council, which has endorsed the annexation.

In a press release Thursday, the company, citing a recent survey it commissioned, said there is “strong opposition” to annexation among Mission Viejo residents.

“There . . . is no reason to rush into a decision that will affect the future--and set precedent for expanding to an ever-larger city,” said Harvey Stearn, president of the company’s California division. “We’re offering to work with the City Council to put the issue on the ballot and to resolve the issue the way it should be resolved--by a vote of the residents.”

Company officials denied financial or business interest in the annexation issue and said they want only to bring about a community response. But several City Council members called the company’s aggressive annexation interest merely a smoke screen for its real interest: control of the city and its development.

Most council members said Thursday that they are unwilling to take up the company’s offer.

Councilman Christian W. Keena said he would support such an election “only if we could pose a second question, ‘Should a developer be allowed to interfere in a public process?’ Then it might be a fair questionnaire. This clearly is an offer to manipulate the process.”

Councilman Robert A. Curtis agreed: “It is an attempt to control the political dialogue. The nut of all this brouhaha is whether the people of Mission Viejo control their own civic affairs through their elected City Council or whether this will remain a company town controlled by Philip Morris.”

(The Mission Viejo Co. is a subsidiary of the Philip Morris Cos.)

“The council has made its decision, and now it is out of our hands,” said Mission Viejo Mayor Norman P. Murray. “There are people who may disagree with some of our decisions, but we are the ones who have to bite the bullet and take a stand.”

A company spokeswoman denied that it is seeking to control what goes on in the city. “This is a community issue, and we believe our position has strong public support, but if the public voted to annex we would happily go along with that,” spokeswoman Wendy Wetzel said.

She said the company had not determined what the election would cost.

The company has opposed any exansion, arguing that the city should maintain its historic community boundaries.

The county Local Agency Formation Commission is scheduled to vote Feb. 1 on the Aegean Hills annexation request. According to state laws that regulate annexation, approval of the expansion by Mission Viejo residents is not required because it is being sought by Aegean Hills, commission director Jim Colangelo said.

An advisory election, if held, is not necessary for annexation, so LAFCO would not be bound by its results.

Proponents of the Aegean Hills annexation who petitioned LAFCO argue that allowing Mission Viejo residents to vote on expansion would deny Aegean Hills residents due process. The triangular parcel of land between Mission Viejo and Interstate 5 has about 7,000 residents.

“We’ve been waiting on the sidelines for a long time, and we want our day at bat,” said Ron Kennedy, a member of the Aegean Hills Homeowners Assn.

“We are very distressed at this point at any attempt to short-circuit the process. Even though technically we are not included in the planned community, we have been a part of this community socially and whatever other way you want to look at it for 20 years.”