City Forced to Annex Three County Islands
An agreement allowing the city to take over the Garden Grove Sanitary District will force residents of an unincorporated county island to be annexed--a move the residents don’t like.
Mary Solomon, owner of one of the 350 homes near Dale Street and Lampson Avenue that soon will become part of Garden Grove, said that she and many of her neighbors bought there to avoid living in an incorporated city. “The people are upset because they feel their vote has been taken away from them,” she said. “We are concerned with the city.”
City Manager George Tindall said the neighborhood is one of three small islands Garden Grove is being forced to annex as part of its application to absorb the Garden Grove Sanitary District into city operations. The other islands, one near Santa Ana and another near Fountain Valley, are much smaller than Solomon’s neighborhood, he said.
“Since Garden Grove is the applicant, it is a county and LAFCO [Local Agency Formation Commission] policy to require an applicant to annex county islands,” Tindall said.
The city is scheduled to take over the sanitary district by next July.
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