A Young City’s Justifiable Pride

Laguna Niguel has launched a yearlong celebration of 10 years of cityhood. The official date of incorporation is December, but a May 1 parade marked the start of festivities. It’s not surprising that city officials want to stretch out the commemorations.

Aside from the unsuccessful battle to annex Monarch Beach and snatch tax revenue produced by a resort hotel there, a fight that unfortunately still rankles many in the city, Laguna Niguel has largely fulfilled the hopes of cityhood proponents. To accomplish its goals, the city has been required to wrestle with the issues of growth and how to reshape the suburbs.

The fierce pace of development and a feeling that the Board of Supervisors wasn’t paying enough attention to South County residents prompted the incorporation frenzy of the late 1980s. From 26 cities in Orange County, the total jumped to 31 in only a few years. Laguna Niguel was the middle one, incorporating after Mission Viejo and Dana Point and before Laguna Hills and Lake Forest.

Besides a desire for more local control over matters such as zoning and development, some leaders of the incorporation battle were concerned that the community would be divided and given to other cities. Laguna Beach had annexed South Laguna; Dana Point took the hotly contested Monarch Beach, home to the Ritz-Carlton resort.

The vote in favor of cityhood was 89%, even though financial viability was by no means assured. Besides losing the Ritz-Carlton bed taxes, Laguna Niguel suffered from the county’s delaying for years the revision of its property tax sharing agreement with the city.

The Board of Supervisors waited until 1993 to settle a two-year battle with Laguna Niguel and pay nearly $2.4 million in back property taxes. More important, the county agreed to refigure the city’s share of future revenue. Despite the financial questions, the community managed to hold its own; its city manager says the current budget surplus is $25 million.

The incorporations of South County communities reduced the influence of the Board of Supervisors. The new cities usually contracted with the county to maintain police and fire services, but agreements on control of property and sales taxes provided greater certainty on revenue and more realistic budgets.

Though the population in unincorporated county areas has dwindled, the county retains its key responsibilities as local agent for the state in matters such as health care and welfare. It also is responsible for important decisions such as where to put new jails and whether to build a commercial airport at El Toro.

Laguna Niguel was helped on the road to cityhood by having residents experienced in community affairs, many of whom became City Council members. The task now is to work with other cities and the county in shaping an ever more populous, more urbanized Orange County.