2 S. County Areas Are Walls--and Worlds--Apart

The talk among locals in the middle-class tract houses and shopping centers of Rancho Santa Margarita these days often strays to the topic of those neighbors to the south, the well-heeled residents of Coto de Caza who live a life of rural refinement on horse trails behind guarded gates.

And as these two communities in the farthest reaches of Orange County suburbia grapple with issues of growth and self-rule, that talk is increasingly about the walls separating them.

“It’s different classes of people, really,” said Dan McKenzie, a Rancho Santa Margarita resident who on Friday shuttled his wife and three kids to the local Trader Joe’s market in the family minivan. “They’re rich people buying big lots for their custom homes. . . . They’re so spread out they don’t have a real community.”

For several years, the two communities have discussed joining with other unincorporated areas at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains to form Orange County’s 32nd city. But in recent months, this unity had faded, and Coto de Caza and Rancho Santa Margarita have filed separate cityhood applications with the state.

As the cityhood drives get underway, things have gotten personal in the two communities.

“Coto has higher standards,” is how Julia Kikuchi compared her community to the neighborhoods beyond the gates. “A lot of money lives here. . . . I don’t feel as safe when I leave the gates.”

The gates of Coto de Caza are a vivid, literal division for locals. Behind them sits the “Beverly Hills of Orange County,” as one resident put it Friday, with million-dollar homes and dim outdoor lights that make canyon nights feel far removed from city life.

They feel equally removed from Rancho Santa Margarita, population 32,000, where rows of identical homes were built for young families who have a dozen drive-thru fast-food restaurants to choose from on the way home from soccer practice.

“We wouldn’t want to throw stones at Coto de Caza, it’s just a different place,” says Jack Wynns, who arrived in Rancho Santa Margarita in 1986 with visions of the neighborhood becoming an ideal Southern California city. “They live behind gates. We don’t have gates. That’s the way they want to live. There are fine people there.”

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When leaders from the two communities first discussed the idea of a “supercity” in 1994, they found much common ground.

Both Coto de Caza and Rancho Santa Margarita were frustrated with what residents considered poor services from a distant county government in Santa Ana. With a new city in the foothills, they saw a chance to elect council members who could speak out on pressing issues such as the proposed El Toro airport.

But as talks wore on, leaders on both sides began to bicker and complained about having their opinions ignored. This week, leaders from both communities said they’ve lost interest in forming a city together.

While many Rancho Santa Margarita residents see incorporation as the next logical step in their community’s evolution, most Coto de Caza residents interviewed Friday said they have yet to be swayed by proponents of cityhood and like life the way it is.

“Not interested,” real estate investor Gary Thomas said of cityhood, either with or without Rancho Santa Margarita. Thomas had just finished a round of golf at the Coto de Caza Golf and Racquet Club and munched on an avocado salad as he mulled the issue. “What are we going to gain that we don’t already have?”

Susan Sanchez has lived on both sides of the gates. After living in Rancho Santa Margarita for nine years, she moved to Coto de Caza two years ago. It didn’t take her long to realize that the change of address was a change in perspective.

“Old neighbors of mine say, ‘You live in Coto now,’ but I tell them, ‘I’m still the same person,’ ” she said. “People don’t realize that it’s affordable. We’re not billionaires.” Sanchez said the view from Rancho Santa Margarita portrays Coto de Caza as a snobby social set, but she said that falls short of the truth.

“Our moving truck pulled up and the neighbor ran over with a plate of cookies,” she said. “It’s the people that make the community what it is, whether we become a city or not.”

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One key to creating a city is the presence of commercial properties--and the lifeblood sales-tax revenue they produce for municipal government. While Rancho Santa Margarita has numerous businesses, Coto de Caza has only two: a general store and a country club.

The lack of a sales-tax base alone makes it “absurd” to contemplate creating a city out of the gated community on its own, said Jerry White, editor of the Coto de Caza News. He said most of the roughly 4,100 people in the enclave oppose cityhood or are apathetic on the topic.

“People in Coto don’t want their speed bumps flattened or their roads to be widened,” White said.

Several Coto de Caza residents interviewed Friday said they are wary of cityhood for fear it will change the easygoing, country atmosphere. “People have the liberty to run stop signs all day long,” said 10-year resident David Dalzotto, noting that traffic tickets are unheard of in the confines of the community.

For McKenzie, a diesel technician and an 11-year Rancho Santa Margarita resident, the prospect of merging with Coto de Caza seems unfair. “They didn’t organize their place as well,” he said, referring to his town’s mix of homes and businesses. “They want us and whatever they can use, right?”

Wynns worries that Coto de Caza leaders will push to annex the Plaza Antonio shopping center and make it part of their proposed city limits. Several business owners in the center, which is anchored by a Vons Pavilions supermarket, said they would be happy in either community or a combination of both.

“Our customers are from both, but mostly from Coto de Caza,” said Rita Palma, co-owner of Romano’s, an upscale clothing and tailoring shop where evening gowns and imported shoes line the walls. “They’re all beautiful people.”

Next door, the co-owner of a small cigar shop said he would welcome changing his address to Coto de Caza if it meant he could reach out to the residents within its gates.

“I can’t go inside; they won’t let me in,” said Wahid Doss, who opened S&M; Cigars nine months ago. “They’re rich people in there and I want to promote my business, but the guards will not let me in. If that’s going to change, let me know.”

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Divided Loyalties

They sit at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains on the far fringes of Orange County suburbia. But Rancho Santa Margarita and Coto de Caza are decidedly different communities, and many residents don’t see a shared future.

Population

Coto de Caza: 4,100

Rancho Santa Margarita: 32,000

Median home price

Coto de Caza: $504,900

Rancho Santa Margarita: $190,000

Sources: County of Orange Progress Report; Worth magazine; Acxiom / DataQuick