CLIPBOARD

Back in 1858, when Don Bernardo Yorba willed a plot of land to the Catholic Church for a cemetery, he could never have envisioned the sprawling residential growth that would encircle the graves of his friends and family.

Yorba Cemetery sits parallel to a tennis court on a quiet plateau overlooking the Riverside Freeway. The ruffle of leaves, driven by Santa Ana winds, muffles the constant whirring of traffic below. Packed-in homes cover small lots, while wooden fences buy a few feet of privacy for each yard. The only cinder block wall in this area runs the distance from Esperanza Road to Yorba Linda Boulevard.

This safe, quiet neighborhood--Fairlynn Estates and the Yorba Linda Country Club enclave--suffer few problems, save one embroiling issue: incorporation.

“I don’t know what they have against incorporation,” said Glen Yasui, a senior administrative assistant in the Yorba Linda city manager’s office. “They’d get better services, like faster police response, better street-sweeping and better representation of their interests.”

Incorporation battles aren’t new to Yorba Linda. The first one started 32 years ago over a fear that the city would be annexed to Brea. Year after year, petitions to incorporate failed. And in the early 1960s, the Board of Supervisors decided that owners of more than 50% of the assessed value of local property were opposed to annexation plans. But supporters disagreed with the board’s findings, saying that the values of their opponents’ land holdings had been miscalculated. The fight between the two factions went all the way to the California Supreme Court.

The court overturned the board’s decision and allowed an incorporation election to take place. In 1967, the city of Yorba Linda was created by a vote of 1,963 to 638. The name is a hybrid of the Yorba name and the Spanish word for pretty. However, the Fairlynn Estates property and the country club area were not included within the new city’s boundaries.

“Every time a petition for incorporation starts around again,” Yasui said, “the rabble-rousers get out there and start up with their talk about how expensive it would be to incorporate and city taxes. It’s always money.”

Yorba Linda would like to incorporate both pieces of land, but Fairlynn Estates actually poses a cost-prohibitive problem. According to the city planning office, improvements to a public works project running beneath the Fairlynn Estates land would have to be completed before the city would consider incorporation of that area.

Problems with the land surrounding Yorba Linda Country Club are people-generated.

“I don’t care for the idea of incorporation at the least,” said a 70-something oldtimer who would identify himself only as John Doe. “I don’t mind people knowing who I am or speaking out about how I feel. It’s just that . . . at my age, I don’t want to get into any long harangues.

“The Sheriff’s Department handles our police calls and they do a great job. My kids went to good schools. We have paved roads, horse trails and a great golf course. The biggest issue at stake has been some need for a new street-sweeper.”

From his front yard, a western view of the county stretched across the canyon, revealing layers of tract housing encroaching upon the luxurious hillside homes.

“I don’t want this neighborhood to become like that down there,” John Doe said. “Every house and yard looks different (here). That’s what I’m afraid of losing.

“When I first moved here, some days we could see Catalina Island; not anymore. But this is still like living out in the country; the air is clean and a horse trail runs through the city. People living out here have country in their blood.”

The other John Does of unincorporated Yorba Linda also share a sense of Don Bernardo Yorba’s love of the land. Unfortunately, the concrete reminders of the area’s founder--Yorba’s home, chapel and a school--have fallen to development.

A California Historical Landmark now stands where Yorba had built the largest hacienda in Southern California, Rancho San Antonio. Built in 1834, the two-story, 50-room adobe building was located at the corner of current-day Esperanza Road and Echo Hill Drive. Today, a small monument is the sole indicator of the rancho that was razed in 1926.

The marker for Yorba’s chapel and school is located off Esperanza Road near Echo Hill Drive. As each building fell into disrepair, it was torn down. As recently as 1958, the old church was demolished. All that is left standing of Yorba’s legacy is his own tombstone.

A wrought-iron fence encloses the oldest private cemetery in Orange County, predated only by the Mission Cemetery in San Juan Capistrano.

Gates to the cemetery,located off Esperanza Road, are locked to deter vandals. But several headstones of Orange County’s earliest pioneer families--including the Valencias and the Peraltas--lay fallen on the rich, dark soil in apparent acts of vandalism. And just as the tombstones topple, so do the hills of Santa Ana Canyon fall to development.

Population Total: (1990 est.) 10,654 1980-90 change: +25.0% Median Age: 33.4

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 83% Latino: 8% Black: 1% Other: 8%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 32.8 years FEMALES Median age: 34.0 years

Income Per capita: $23,485 Median household: $62,780 Average household: $71,022

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 6% $25,000-49,999: 28% $50,000-74,999: 32% $75,000-$99,999: 18% $100,000 and more: 16%