Laguna Niguel’s New Leaders Expect a Smooth Transition to Cityhood

Always the bridesmaid but never the bride, this community has finally made it to the altar.

Laguna Niguel, which struggled for three years to get the question of cityhood on the ballot, on Dec. 1 will become Orange County’s 29th city.

It’s a big change but one the community is ready for--and has been carefully planning for--Councilwoman-elect Patricia C. Bates said Wednesday.

She also marveled at the size and scope of Tuesday’s election mandate for cityhood: “It was overwhelming. We’re all still in a state of euphoria.”

Laguna Niguel voters gave a thundering approval of nearly 89% for cityhood Tuesday, with a vote of 8,463 to 1,058. The pro-cityhood turnout, she noted, surprised even the most optimistic of incorporation boosters.

Laguna Niguel becomes a county city with a montage of images: a picturesque, planned community of expensive homes dotting undulating hills; a city whose Main Street is fast, sleek Crown Valley Parkway; a city whose best-known architectural work is the curious Ziggurat--a federal building that was constructed in a style from ancient Babylonia.

This elegant, eclectic community of about 40,000 residents moves from unincorporated county to independent city in less than three weeks--an unusually short time span, according to the county Local Agency Formation Commission. By contrast, LAFCO noted, Mission Viejo had almost five months to make the adjustment, and Dana Point had about six months.

But Bates said Wednesday that Laguna Niguel began preparing for cityhood long before Tuesday’s climactic vote.

“Our Laguna Niguel Community Services District board commissioned a management consultant team in September to outline the process for transition,” Bates said. “They are setting up the basics, such as the city’s banking and insurance--all the housekeeping functions for a new city.”

Bates said the new city is also ready to get off to a running start on issues facing it. She predicted that city planning and police protection would be among the first items under scrutiny.

“Land-use planning and the level of police protection--I think those will be things the new council will focus on,” she said. “About 35% of our community still remains to be developed, and how that is done is a concern of the residents here. The residents also are interested in how much police service we will contract for with the Sheriff’s Department.”

Bates topped a field of 23 council candidates. She outdistanced her nearest competitor by about 2,400 votes.

On Dec. 1, five people, including Bates, will be sworn in as the inaugural City Council. Council members will vote among themselves for mayor. The candidate who got the most votes in the popular election usually gets that honor, so Bates is likely to be Laguna Niguel’s first mayor.

Bates, 49, handles personnel and community relations work for her husband’s architectural firm, John Bates Associates.

The other four council members elected Tuesday are James F. Krembas, 53, principal of San Clemente High School; Paul M. Christiansen, 38, a stockbroker; Thomas W. Wilson, 49, a program manager for Rockwell International, and Larry A. Porter, 50, an investment broker.

Bates, Krembas, Christiansen and Porter are all directors of the Laguna Niguel Community Services District, which until Dec. 1 will continue to oversee parks and roads. Bates is also a member of the Laguna Niguel Community Council, as is Wilson, the current president of that body. The council has been an advisory arm to county government.

“All five of us elected to the new City Council have been working together for years,” Bates said. “We know each other well, and we know the problems of our community.”

One problem that has bedeviled Laguna Niguel has been the loss of its coastal strip, Monarch Beach. LAFCO placed that 1.5-mile strand, which includes the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel, in the proposed city of Dana Point in 1987; the area then voted to incorporate and became a city last Jan. 1.

Laguna Niguel residents, furious about the loss, have two legal challenges pending in the courts, both seeking to win back Monarch Beach.

“The coastal question is an issue very much before the people of Laguna Niguel,” Bates said. “We’re in the courts with two lawsuits on that issue, and we’ll pursue that. Wherever we went during the campaign, we found that this coastal issue is still very much a concern of the residents.”

Dana Point Mayor Eileen Krause on Wednesday congratulated Laguna Niguel on becoming a new city.

She said Dana Point extends cooperation and best wishes, “but Monarch Beach remains a part of Dana Point.”

Krause said: “One point I want to make clear. That point is that Monarch Beach didn’t belong to anyone. It was unincorporated, just as was Dana Point and just as was Laguna Niguel. But the residents in Monarch Beach wanted to become a part of Dana Point, and they are now a part of our city, and they will continue to be a part of our city.”

Monarch Beach residents themselves voted in 1987 to go with Dana Point, but Laguna Niguel leaders protest that the advisory election was limited to an area favoring Dana Point.

Dana Point Councilwoman Judy Curreri added in a separate interview: “Laguna Niguel is going to find out that it has many things to do as a city--a lot more things than just trying to wage an old battle.”