Annexation Move Stirs Midway City Uproar : Surrounded Unincorporated Area’s Residents Want to Remain Separate From Westminster

Residents of Midway City, alarmed that Westminster wants to annex several parcels of their unincorporated community, will appear before the Westminster City Council tonight to oppose the city’s advances and try to keep their community intact.

At stake are five houses along Beach Boulevard, just north of McFadden Avenue, that may become part of Westminster if the council votes to support annexation. If the council moves ahead with annexation, a formal request will go before the Local Agency Formation Commission, which must approve the move before it takes effect.

Some Midway City residents fear that annexation would undermine their longstanding independence as a county-governed enclave surrounded by Westminster, according to Art Horne, president of the Midway City Chamber of Commerce and Homeowners’ Assn. Midway City is a pocket of homes and businesses just north of the San Diego Freeway and straddling Beach Boulevard.

“The bottom line is, leave us alone,” said Horne, one of a group of Midway City residents expected to appear before the council. Several petitions against annexation are already circulating.

Residents spoke out against annexation when the Westminster council first considered the issue last month. A petition with 68 signatures opposing annexation was presented, Horne said.

The furor began when Ed Falzon, a self-employed electrician from Westminster who owns four homes in Midway City, sought to change the zoning of his properties from residential to commercial.

Falzon, 34, said county officials told him that the easiest way would be to ask Westminster to annex his land, then seek the change through the city.

That, he said, landed him in a squabble he neither desired nor expected: “I opened a can of worms, I guess.”

William and Helen Glover also landed in the middle of the dispute. The city, to create orderly city boundaries, included their home in Falzon’s request because it is between his lots on Beach Boulevard.

The Glovers have lived in their home for 27 years and are happy with county-provided services, such as road repair, police and fire protection. And they do not relish having to pay Westminster’s 5% utility tax.

“What do we need them for, outside of paying taxes?” William Glover, 71, said about Westminster. “We sure don’t need them for that.”

Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith said the city does not want to take over Midway City, because the residential areas would not greatly add to the city’s tax base and most Midway City residents oppose annexation.

“They don’t want us to, and it’s not in our interest to,” Smith said.

But in this case, he said, the residential properties would be rezoned to commercial and provide the city with greater tax income.

If the Local Agency Formation Commission sides with Westminster, it will have to expand Westminster’s sphere of influence--the area designated to eventually become part of a city--to include this portion of Midway City, commission Executive Director Jim Colangelo said.

A public hearing to allow such an expansion might be combined with a regular review of Westminster’s sphere of influence. Colangelo said the review could be scheduled when the commission meets Wednesday.

In 1981, the commission ruled that Midway City is outside of Westminster’s sphere, but since then it has twice allowed the city to annex tiny parts of the area.

To prevent further piecemeal annexations, the panel’s staff will urge the commission to decide whether Midway City is to be up for grabs or off limits, Colangelo said.

“One way or another, we need a consistent policy,” Colangelo said.