Big Leisure World Turnout Figured in Laguna Hills Defeat

Despite a nearly unanimous approval for cityhood outside the gates of Leisure World, heavy voter turnout inside the retirement community squelched a chance to make Laguna Hills the county’s 29th city, an analysis of precinct information indicated Wednesday.

The Orange County registrar of voters reported that 83% of non-Leisure World voters cast their ballots in favor of cityhood for Laguna Hills, while 66% of Leisure World voters opted against the proposal.

But far more Leisure World residents voted on Tuesday.

Of the 16,278 registered voters in Leisure World, 9,747, or 60%, turned out at the polls, while the turnout in the remainder of Laguna Hills was 38%, with 5,065 of 13,481 registered voters casting ballots.

The cityhood measure ended up losing by a mere 284 of a total 17,686 ballots cast, including 2,917 absentee ballots that went against cityhood by 61%.

The more detailed voting data that became available Wednesday confirmed speculation that the objection of most Leisure World residents to the idea of becoming part of a city spelled the downfall of the ballot measure, which was the second failed attempt in eight months to create a city in the Saddleback Valley area of south Orange County.

While cityhood proponents were discouraged by the outcome, they said Wednesday that they hope to get another cityhood movement going soon because so many voters outside Leisure World supported of the concept of local control.

“The closeness of the vote means there is obviously support for the concept. . . . I’m still convinced that all of the area is going to be incorporated sometime in the near future,” said L. Allan Songstad Jr., a lawyer who ran as a city council candidate in support of cityhood and got enough votes to have won a council seat, had the proposal passed.

The majority of Leisure World voters apparently were fearful that cityhood would mean added taxes or disruption of their special life style.

Those familiar with the process say that multiple elections often are necessary to give birth to a city. James Colangelo, executive officer of the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, said that although Orange County in recent years has had a run of successful first-time incorporation elections which formed the cities of Irvine, Dana Point and Mission Viejo, those experiences are not the norm.

“Throughout the state, it is not that unusual for an incorporation to lose on its first try. Often, it has taken two or three tries,” he said.

In Los Angeles County, for example, Diamond Bar had a failed incorporation election in 1982, followed by a successful election last April; it took three elections for Lancaster to become a city, and Malibu is about to make a new bid at cityhood after unsuccessful attempts in 1975 and 1983.

Colangelo said he believes that the defeat of Laguna Hills incorporation does not portend any problem for the outcome of a similar election scheduled for November in nearby Laguna Niguel.

“From what I have heard, there is not a well-organized, anti-cityhood group there (in Laguna Niguel) like there was in Leisure World,” he said.

Also, Colangelo said he anticipates that someday there will be a city in the Laguna Hills area. “As to what the boundaries of the city will be or the timing of it, I’m not sure,” he added.

He said the formation of cities in areas such as Laguna Hills that are becoming densely developed is “a natural progression.”

“The way county government is set up, we are not really intended to provide services to highly developed areas,” he said. He added, however, that LAFCO will do nothing to encourage another incorporation move. “We are in a reactive position. We will look at each proposal that comes in,” he said.

Dale White, who led the failed effort to form a regional Saddleback Valley city, which would have included El Toro, Lake Forest, Aegean Hills, Portola Hills and Laguna Hills, with the exception of Leisure World, said Wednesday that she was not prepared to revive that campaign.

White said she believes the area now needs “a cooling-off time” of at least eight months before another attempt is made to devise an incorporation plan with broad support.

“I think the vote showed there was interest in incorporation outside the walls of Leisure World,” she said. But she added: “We can’t continue to waste the people’s time and money (on incorporation elections). We need to come up with a sound and rational plan.”

ELECTION RESULTS

Laguna Hills Cityhood

29 of 29 Precincts Reporting Votes % Yes 8,701 49.2 No 8,985 50.8

City Council

Five would have been elected if cityhood had passed.

Votes % Craig Scott 6,836 11.0 Melody Carruth 6,809 10.9 Leon A. Bosch 6,250 10.0 L. Allan Songstad Jr. 6,246 10.0 Philip S. Borden 5,989 9.6 James Dukette 4,777 7.7 Janice Graham 4,208 6.8 William A. Honigman 3,121 5.0 Bea Hassel Rogatz 3,084 4.9 Norman F. Garton 3,001 4.8 Bernard Kuai 1,980 3.2 Patricia Ann Gummeson 1,684 2.7 Karl Gustav Schneider II 1,438 2.3