Seeking Refuge : As Encroachment Marches On, South Orange County May Control Its Destiny as a ‘Super City’

They moved to the foothills of south Orange County to get away from it all, trading concerns about crime and traffic congestion for a view of the mountains, roomier homes, better schools. A proper place to raise a family.

But it didn’t take long for people who fled to the edge of Cleveland National Forest to feel the encroachment.

There’s the 35-acre auto mall in Rancho Santa Margarita that was protested as an eyesore, or the kids--some residents think they’re gang members--who hang out at the Taco Bell. And that’s nothing compared to the recent proposals for an international airport and maximum-security jail at nearby El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

“It’s made a lot of people realize that we have no rights, we have no power,” said Michelle Lamb, a Rancho Santa Margarita businesswoman and community activist.

South county residents have long felt ignored by Orange County’s power structure. But that feeling of helplessness is perhaps most acute in the unincorporated foothill communities, where fed-up residents are rebelling against county control by trying to turn themselves into Orange County’s 32nd city.

“It’s really ironic that we need to incorporate in order to retain that unincorporated feel, that to maintain our rural environment we have to become a city,” said Helen Ward of Foothill Ranch. “But I don’t see any other way around it. We can’t just put our faith in the county.”

If successful, the movement could provide one of the wealthier and fastest-growing areas of south Orange County with the political clout residents say they desperately need. But the cityhood debate appears to be dividing neighbors instead of uniting them.

There are no less than three incorporation movements--and there are a fair share of opponents who want nothing to do with a city. Supporters envision an idyllic community where the collective affluence is used for the greater good. But opponents--generally those with the wealth--are wary about sharing.

“It shouldn’t sound selfish; it’s just realistic that we’re asking, ‘How does this benefit us?’ ” said Mel Mercado, a manager in the home-building industry and a resident of Rancho Santa Margarita, a meticulously planned community. “People have saved long and worked hard to get here, and there’s a fear that we’re going to have to fork over more, or have less.”

Bankrupt Orange County won’t analyze how an incorporation would affect its finances until a new city looks more likely. However, Supervisors Marian Bergeson and Don Saltarelli, whose districts include the foothill areas, have given their blessings to incorporation.

And finally, it remains unclear whether the residents of Trabuco Canyon who eschew street lights and don’t worry about leaving a rusting Volkswagen on the front lawn can share city council chambers with residents from “Beverly Hills South”--as the pricey gated community of Coto de Caza is called.

“Areas like these are generally self-centered, very concerned with maintaining their quality of life and their particular sense of identity,” said Al Sokolow, a public policy specialist at UC Davis who keeps track of incorporation efforts statewide. “That’s the sentiment that’s going to be difficult to overcome. ‘City’ is a bad word for some people living in the suburbs.”

The incorporation movement that has made the most headway would gather up all 10 communities, including Trabuco Highlands, Robinson Ranch, Dove Canyon, Portola Hills, Rancho Cielo and the new Las Flores development. It would span roughly 32 square miles and include about 95,000 residents, when planned developments are built out over the next several years.

Supporters--including Lamb and others--have begun to collect the signatures needed to put the issue before voters in 1997.

Another incorporation effort led by Mercado would rope off Rancho Santa Margarita from the rest of its neighbors. A third would encircle Foothill Ranch, Portola Hills and perhaps Trabuco Canyon.

The financial keys to incorporation are the inclusion of Rancho Santa Margarita or Foothill Ranch, which contain the businesses and shopping centers that provide the sales tax base that is critical to supporting a city.

All three proposals cannot succeed. And the infighting has already begun.

Supporters say cityhood, funded with the millions in property and sales taxes that the region deposits each year into county coffers, would solve a host of ills. A preliminary feasibility study suggests that the 10 communities combined as a city could net at least $1.6 million a year after paying for necessities such as police, fire and animal control services.

“It certainly looks like it is financially feasible from the figures we’ve seen,” said Michael Bannan, a Vista-based municipal finance expert who performed the study for Lamb’s group.

That determination would ultimately be made by the Local Agency Formation Commission before residents could vote on cityhood.

Supporters say they intend to contract with the county for law enforcement and other services, and use the leftovers to build parks, senior centers and recreational facilities, improve libraries, or do anything else the community might want.

“We can do an awful lot of good with that money,” Lamb said.

Opponents don’t necessarily disagree. But their concern is that cityhood may lead to higher taxes, or will water down the amenities they now enjoy.

The most contentious point by far revolves around parks and recreation facilities, which are a scarcity in some areas, such as Dove Canyon and Rancho Cielo. Told of children being placed on waiting lists to play sports, the Orange County Board of Supervisors recently agreed to study the problem.

Rancho Santa Margarita residents, meanwhile, pay $39 a month to maintain 12 privately owned fields. In exchange for allowing the green spaces to be used for regional youth sports teams, Rancho Santa Margarita residents get priority when it comes to signing their children up for the teams, Mercado said. Cityhood supporters say the fee would be eliminated and parks would be maintained by community-wide taxes. But critics say cityhood would also strip Rancho Santa Margarita kids of the sign-up preference--unthinkable for residents who rank youth sports as a key factor for moving there.

“That’s a big concern for a lot of people,” said Rancho Santa Margarita resident Gary Thompson, planning director with the Navy in San Diego. “They want to know that there’s a place for their children to play.”

Residents of gated communities such as Dove Canyon and Coto de Caza also worry that cityhood could mean losing their guard shacks and electronic security fences that close them off from the rest of the community.

“Of course we’re worried about that,” one Coto resident said. “We bought because this was a gated community and we want it to remain a gated community.”

But those who support joining the 10 communities insist that a city, if structured correctly, can be all things to all people.

They propose a city charter that would keep gated communities gated, give environmentally minded Trabuco Canyon residents control over planning in their own backyards, and restrict use of private facilities--such as pool houses--to the residents who paid for them.

But opponents are not willing to take that risk on what they label a “super city”--a term that raises visions of a futuristic Los Angeles. Others fear that cityhood would forever change the nature of their community or make certain areas dumping grounds for all things undesirable--like a police substation or a courthouse--that could not be placed in a gated community.