LAGUNA BEACH : Settlement OKd in Annexing Smithcliffs

After three years of wrangling and more than $100,000 in court costs, a reluctant City Council agreed Monday to a settlement that will allow the city to annex a 10-acre oceanfront parcel while relinquishing control over how the land will be developed.

The property, known as Smithcliffs, is located just south of the Emerald Bay community and 26 homes will be built on the site.

If the annexation gains final approval from the county and the Local Agency Formation Commission, the city will ultimately gain about $150,000 annually in property taxes, according to a report from City Manager Kenneth C. Frank, who called the acquisition “extremely important financially” for Laguna Beach.

County and LAFCO representatives have already endorsed the annexation.

The council’s 3-0 vote was cast over the objections of most speakers at a specially scheduled council meeting. Council members Lida Lenney and Martha Collison were absent.

Jeannette Merrilees, who lives next door to the proposed development, agreed with others in attendance that the city should have fought on in court to retain some development control.

“Some people have said Laguna is selling it’s soul on this one,” Merrilees said. “I think we are victimizing the people who live closest to this project to benefit the city as a corporation.”

While clearly unhappy about giving up any hope of control over a development it repeatedly opposed on environmental and other grounds, council members said they were simply choosing between two undesirable options.

“This to me is a situation where you’re going to lose and how do you want to choose your losses,” said Neil G. Fitzpatrick, who has been negotiating with landowner Gary Brinderson’s representatives for more than a year.

The question of how Smithcliffs would be developed has long been a bitter subject in Laguna Beach. Over the years, tensions between the city and landowner grew, involving other agencies and sparking a string of lawsuits.

The city had maintained from the beginning that the bluff-top property, once a winter roosting site for the Monarch butterfly, should not be developed unless it was annexed to the city so Laguna Beach could maintain some control over how construction should proceed.

Instead, Brinderson sought and received development approval from the county and then allowed the Irvine Ranch Water District to annex the land so it could provide sewer service to the new homes.

But the city, which has the only sewer lines to the parcel, refused to let the water district use its pipes. A water district attempt to use eminent domain to condemn and gain access to the city pipes failed in court last month, a move which brought all parties back to the bargaining table.

A Brinderson spokeswoman said last week that the developer is now looking forward to working with the city.

The Smithcliffs annexation is expected to be on LAFCO’s agenda Dec. 2 and the County Board of Supervisors’ calendar Dec. 8. Annexation would be effective Dec. 11.

Reluctant Accord 26 luxury homes to be built on 10 acres.