Aegean Hills’ Merger With City Expected

After years of frustrating attempts to merge with Mission Viejo, the 7,000-resident community of Aegean Hills may finally clear the last major obstacle to annexation tonight.

The Mission Viejo City Council is expected to give its blessing to the merger unless anti-annexations petitions signed by 25% of Aegean Hills voters--about 900 persons--are presented at a public hearing tonight.

Opposition has been minimal, though. Flyers were circulated door to door recently beseeching residents not to lose control of their bedroom community to Mission Viejo, but even Wes Gerber, leader of the Residents Against Annexation, acknowledges that their signature drive started too late to be effective.

“It will be a stretch, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “If nothing else, we want to let the City Council know there is serious dissent in our community.”

Gerber said members of his group, which number about 20, are more upset over the entire community’s not being given the opportunity to vote on the matter, than about the annexation itself.

“The big issue is the right to vote,” he said. “Not all of us oppose annexation; we’re just not happy to lose our right to vote on this.”

Annexation supporters responded to the late blossoming opposition drive by sending out a rebuttal flyer late last week.

“It’s foolish in any political situation to not take your opposition seriously,” said Tom Potocki, president of the Aegean Hills Homeowners Assn., which supports annexation.

If the council passes an annexation motion, Aegean Hills could become part of Mission Viejo by the end of the year, boosting the city’s population from about 73,000 to 80,000.

It would also mark the end of a laborious, often controversial effort to annex Aegean Hills.

The first drive started shortly after Mission Viejo incorporated almost five years ago. In 1988, the council voted in favor of annexation, then changed its mind a few months later.

The merger was opposed by the Mission Viejo Co., the developer of the planned community, which helped launch a recall drive against Councilman Robert A. Curtis, the main champion of annexation. Although the company helped raised almost $500,000 to unseat Curtis, the recall was voted down by an overwhelming margin.

The election of three new council members in 1990 breathed life into the annexation campaign. With a council majority now in favor of adding Aegean Hills, opposition from the county became the major stumbling block.

Facing a $60-million budget deficit last year, the county played hardball with Mission Viejo over tax revenues from Aegean Hills. But after negotiating for several months and exchanging threats, the two sides finally agreed on how to split about $800,000 in tax revenue.

That left only the public hearing as a hurdle to annexation.

After waiting so long for annexation, another month or so doesn’t matter, Potocki said.

“We’ve had a Mission Viejo identity for years,” he said. “We’ve intermingled in schools, churches and sports issues, had Mission Viejo addresses all this time. This will finally make it legitimate.”