Local News in Brief : Laguna Niguel : Bear Brand Ranch Loses Fight Against Cityhood

The Local Agency Formation Commission Wednesday unanimously defeated a final effort by a handful of Bear Brand Ranch residents to exclude their community from the proposed city of Laguna Niguel.

The 4-0 vote by the commission, which must approve all incorporations and municipal boundaries, affirmed its approval last month of the city limits for a 9,000-acre city.

A cityhood election had tentatively been scheduled for June 6, but just as the Board of Supervisors was preparing to adopt LAFCO’s original approval, it received letters requesting that the commission reconsider its action, which it did at Wednesday’s meeting.

James Colangelo, LAFCO’s executive director, said after the meeting that supervisors have scheduled a final hearing April 19.

If half of the registered voters in the area, or roughly about 9,000 people, indicate their opposition to incorporation, it would be halted, Colangelo said. If less than half protest, the Board of Supervisors must put the matter on the Nov. 7 ballot, he said.

The proposed city of Laguna Niguel, with about 38,000 residents, would be wedged between the cities of San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and Mission Viejo, mostly west of Interstate 5. The still-growing Bear Brand Ranch community is a 132-acre development of custom-built homes in the foothills above San Juan Capistrano.