MISSION VIEJO : Council Votes to Annex Aegean Hills

This city will get a little more populated in the next few weeks after the City Council approved the annexation of the Aegean Hills community.

The way was cleared for the annexation at a public hearing on Monday, when a group campaigning against the land acquisition failed to collect 952 signatures from Aegean Hills residents in opposition to the merger.

The state is expected to approve the paperwork for the annexation in the next two weeks. City officials said they hope the annexation will become official by the end of the year in order to receive tax revenue from Aegean Hills.

When the annexation is completed, Mission Viejo will swell from a population of 73,000 to about 80,000. Aegean Hills is bordered by Interstate 5 on the west and Mission Viejo to the east. Its north-south borders are La Paz Road and Los Alisos Boulevard.

In the final official act of his five-year council career, Councilman Robert A. Curtis offered the motion to approve the annexation. Curtis had chosen not to run for reelection in the Nov. 3 election.

A former Aegean Hills resident, Curtis has long been a champion of annexation.

After the annexation vote, Curtis stepped down as Councilman-elect Joseph D. Lowe and incumbent Councilman William S. Craycraft were sworn into office.