LAGUNA NIGUEL : City Appeal Rejected in Coastal Dispute

The city suffered another defeat in its attempt to reclaim a valuable 1.5-mile stretch of coastline when an appellate court ruled this week that the posh community of Monarch Beach was rightly placed within boundaries that are now part of Dana Point.

The 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a 1988 decision by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission that transferred the coastal land from the Laguna Niguel Community Services District to Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District.

The boundary adjustment took place after Monarch Beach residents voted in 1987 in favor of becoming part of Dana Point when it incorporated.

Wednesday’s decision is the latest in a series of legal blows Laguna Niguel has sustained in trying to recapture the land, which includes the Ritz-Carlton resort.

City officials said they will consider Tuesday whether to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

On Friday, Dana Point City Manager William O. Talley shrugged off the possibility of another court challenge.

“I guess they can go to the Supreme Court and maybe try to drag the United Nations in, but at some point they should stop spending public money on a futile quest,” Talley said.

“It’s long since been time to put this thing behind us,” Dana Point Mayor Mike Eggers added. “Instead of fighting each other, we need to be working together.”

Laguna Niguel Mayor Patricia C. Bates said the lawsuits were fueled by frustration aroused when residents within present-day Laguna Niguel were denied a vote on where Monarch Beach should be placed, even though the coastal strip had strongly been identified with her city.

“The lawsuits were really an expression of that outrage, that they didn’t get a chance to vote,” she said.