MISSION VIEJO : 81% in Poll Favor Aegean Hills Annex

After years of debate, residents have overwhelmingly voiced their support for annexing Aegean Hills, with 81% favoring the move in a mail-in poll, results of which were released by city officials Thursday.

Shortly after the poll was tallied Thursday evening, the City Council voted unanimously to join Aegean Hills residents in delivering an application for annexation to the Local Agency Formation Commission.

While not a guarantee of success, the joint application greatly improves the annexation’s chances for approval, LAFCO officials said Thursday.

Annexation of the pie-shaped area on Mission Viejo’s western border would increase the city’s population by almost 10% to 80,000 residents. For a city already rich in cash reserves--about $21 million--additional sales and property tax revenue from Aegean Hills will eventually bring in almost $1 million annually, Mission Viejo officials estimate.

“This is a clear and powerful embrace of our neighbors known as Aegean Hills,” said Councilman Robert A. Curtis, a longtime proponent of the annexation. Voters have been “dying for an opportunity to let their sentiments be known.”

City officials said they were surprised by the large response to the mail-in poll. A total of 11,725 of the city’s 37,549 registered voters, about 31%, responded to the survey.

“I expected possibly a 17% turnout,” said City Clerk Ivy Joseph. “This is a higher response than for most (municipal) elections.”

Aegean Hills residents began a strong push for annexation in 1987. Supported by Curtis, a former Aegean Hills resident, the move drew stiff opposition from the Mission Viejo Co. and a group of residents in the city.

The council itself struggled with the issue, first approving the annexation and then voting 3-2 against it in 1988.

Since the annexation issue was revived last November, organized opposition has been negligible. So far, the Mission Viejo Co. has stayed out of the picture.

“We opposed it last time because (supporters) would have held an annexation without giving the voters a chance to voice their opinion,” said Wendy Wetzel, a Mission Viejo Co. spokeswoman. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s up to the people to decide” whether to approve annexation.

Mission Viejo must now bargain with the county over how to divide property tax revenue from Aegean Hills. If the two sides can reach an agreement, the annexation application would be voted on by LAFCO.

“It’s been an emotional issue on both sides,” said Tom Potocki, president of the Aegean Hills Homeowners Assn. board of directors, which has led the community’s annexation campaign. “I’m confident we’ll get what we’ve wanted all along--annexation with Mission Viejo.”