LAGUNA BEACH : City Retains Rights Over Sewer Lines

The city won a major legal battle this week when a judge ruled that a local water district has no right to take over municipal sewer lines needed for a 10-acre residential development outside the city limits.

The Irvine Ranch Water District in 1990 annexed a bluff-top parcel known as Smithcliffs and then sued Laguna Beach, claiming that it could exercise eminent domain over city sewer lines which run to the property.

On Wednesday, however, Superior Court Judge James P. Gray ruled that the district has neither the legal grounds nor justification to condemn the city’s property. Outlining five findings against the water district, the judge also rejected the environmental reports used by the district in its attempt to take possession of the sewer lines.

“We would have been happy with any one of those grounds, and to get five of them was very satisfying,” said Laguna Beach City Atty. Philip Kohn.

Gray’s ruling covers one of two Smithcliffs-related lawsuits that have been pending. In February, the city sued the county, seeking to overturn a string of decisions by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the Local Agency Formation Commission and the water district that eased the way for the 26-home development project.

The Brinderson Real Estate Group plans to build on county land at the north end of Laguna Beach between the city and the Emerald Bay community.

The city contends that because it will be negatively affected by the project, the property should be annexed by the city so it can have more say in how construction proceeds.

The landowner, however, has rejected the city’s overtures and allowed the water district to annex the land so it could provide sewer service. Laguna Beach, however, owns the only sewer lines leading to the property and has refused to let the district use the pipes.

When the district announced in December its intent to use eminent domain to seize the pipes, Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said, there was “no precedent anywhere in the state for this kind of action.”

On Thursday, Frank said he hopes Gray’s ruling will prompt further negotiations between the city and the developer, Brinderson Real Estate Group, before a scheduled court conference involving the remaining lawsuit.

Neither representatives for the landowner nor the water district could be reached for comment.