Now Comes Hard Part: Deciding City Boundaries : Government: After deciding that cityhood would be viable economically, county officials prepare to draw the city limits.

After finding last week that an incorporated Hacienda Heights would be financially sound, Los Angeles County officials are gearing up for the more controversial process of drawing boundaries for the proposed city.

The county Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, reported Wednesday that the east San Gabriel Valley community of about 68,000 people would yield $2.2 million annually of revenue from taxes and fees in excess of the amount it would have to spend on services.

The finding shows the city would be self-supporting, an essential step in preparing for a cityhood election.

The commission plans a hearing on the matter Dec. 11. Cityhood proponents say an election could be scheduled for as early as June, 1992.

“There can be no doubt that Hacienda Heights has the tax base and the financial stability to be a very successful independent city,” the Hacienda Heights Cityhood Committee, the citizens group running the incorporation drive, said in a prepared statement.

But first, LAFCO must work out important details of incorporation, such as the sticky question of where to draw the exact boundaries of Hacienda Heights.

That matter already has drawn objections from several large landowners whose property may be part of the proposed city.

Among the objectors is the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, which owns the Puente Hills Landfill and 600 acres to the east, the site of a planned expansion of the dump.

The cityhood committee included the expansion area in its application for cityhood.

Cityhood advocates, many of whom oppose expansion of the dump, said they would have more power to block expansion of the dump if the proposed area were in their city. Meanwhile, county sanitation officials have asked LAFCO to exclude both the landfill and the proposed expansion area from the city boundaries.

“There is a longstanding policy . . . of keeping regional facilities in the county areas,” said Donald Nellor, solid waste planning section head for the sanitation districts.

The landfill issue was brought up during a 1982 incorporation movement in Hacienda Heights. Then, LAFCO removed it from the proposed city at the urging of Supervisor Pete Schabarum.

The incorporation drive eventually fell apart after opponents discovered some signatures on a cityhood petition had been forged.

Supervisor Deane Dana, a LAFCO member whose 4th District includes Hacienda Heights, said Thursday that he would probably oppose the portion of the cityhood application that includes the dump, although he was keeping an open mind.

Three companies that own land in the southwestern part of the proposed city--Chevron Land Development Co., Unocal Land Development Co. and the Rose Hills Mortuary--also have asked that their land be taken out of the incorporation.

BACKGROUND

Residents of the area roughly bounded by the Pomona Freeway, the Puente Hills, the Puente Hills Landfill and the city of La Habra Heights have tried twice before, in 1982 and 1985, to incorporate the area as a city. Both efforts failed before they came to a public vote. In July, 1991, the county determined that cityhood proponents had collected enough signatures of registered voters to call an election.