Annexation OK Today May End Cityhood Drive

Planners have recommended the approval of Lake Forest’s annexation of 1,502 acres of commercial and industrial property north of the city.

The Local Agency Formation Commission will hold a public hearing today to consider the annexation, which, if approved, would effectively kill Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills’ cityhood drive.

The annexation would include a 1.2-million-square-foot shopping center, which produces about $2 million in annual sales tax revenue, the linchpin of the incorporation drive by the foothill communities.

The annexation “would definitely take away the proposed revenue source for the proposed city,” said Dan Schwarz, policy analyst for LAFCO.

Cityhood activists submitted an incorporation request last week, asking LAFCO to review the application at the same time as the Lake Forest proposal.

LAFCO--which governs local jurisdictional boundary issues--will give an initial response to the incorporation request this morning but separate from the annexation decision.

Schwarz said incorporation applications take months to complete and under LAFCO policy cannot be considered as a competing proposal.

Cityhood activists do have one last chance in the form of a 20-minute presentation at the LAFCO hearing today.

LAFCO meets at 9 a.m. today at Planning Commission Hearing Room, 10 Civic Center Plaza in Santa Ana. Information: (714)834-2556.