Laguna Hills Annexation Could Start a Land Rush : Municipalities: City will add 5,000 residents and annual $2.5 million in tax revenue when merger with north Laguna Hills takes effect next July. Approval could clear way for several other cities to expand.

In what could open the door for city land mergers throughout the county, the Local Agency Formation Commission here Wednesday approved the annexation of north Laguna Hills to the city of Laguna Hills.

Afterward, jubilant city officials said that without the bankruptcy prompting the county to downsize, the annexation would have been far more difficult.

“I hate to say there was a silver lining in the bankruptcy, but there sure was for Laguna Hills,” Councilwoman Cindy Greengold said. “It put pressure on the county to negotiate and now I think everybody will be stepping forward” with annexation plans.

Rich in retail stores and expensive housing, the annexation will add another 5,000 residents and $2.5 million annually in tax revenue to Laguna Hills when the merger becomes official next July. The city’s current population is 25,000.

North Laguna Hills residents will see “more police coverage, our parks and playgrounds will be maintained better and we’ll have more local accountability,” said Rick Bohay, a leader in the north Laguna Hills pro-annexation drive. “It’s been a hard struggle, but we’ve made it.”

The new climate for annexations bodes well for Irvine, Garden Grove, Lake Forest and other cities interested in adding to their territory.

“We’re ready and willing to talk,” said Gil Schofield, county manager of financial and management services.

It’s a complete turnabout in policy from four years ago when Laguna Hills began negotiating with the county over splitting tax revenue in north Laguna Hills.

Eager to prevent the tax revenue loss from a spate of incorporations in South County between 1987 and 1991, then-County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider took a harder stand in negotiations.

Laguna Hills officials hit a wall that refused to crumble until the county declared bankruptcy last year. Schneider was fired, and the responsibility for annexation negotiations was shifted from the chief executive’s office to the Environmental Management Agency.

“Since the bankruptcy and the change in leadership, there was cooperation and a willingness to negotiate that we hadn’t seen before,” Assistant City Manager Don White said. “I think annexations are much more possible today than they were a year and a half, two years ago.”