Rancho Santa Margarita Opts for Cityhood

By PHIL WILLON and SEAN KIRWAN

Nov. 3, 1999 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The master-planned enclave of Rancho Santa Margarita, carved out of the untamed foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains just 15 years ago, grew to adulthood Tuesday to become Orange County’s newest city.

With all 14 precincts reporting late Tuesday, local residents overwhelmingly approved a measure to incorporate the suburban community of 40,000.

The vote is a tribute to the county’s century-long transformation from a sparsely populated region of dairy farms, orange and lemon groves and cropland to a Southern California metropolis crisscrossed by mammoth freeways for 2.6 million residents.

Creation of the county’s 33rd city ends a rocky, five-year campaign for political independence by residents who have long felt ignored by the county, a persistent frustration in South County that has led to the creation of six other cities in the region since 1988.

Supporters leaving the polls said the promise of increased police protection, more parkland for youth sports and local control over tax dollars were enough to win their vote for cityhood.

“Orange County government has its own priorities,” Rancho Santa Margarita resident Dan Levinson said. “We need our own police, we need our own fire department, and we need our own mayor.”

Vote Caps 5-Year Push for Independence

Residents also voted to elect five candidates for the new Rancho Santa Margarita City Council, which must begin the arduous task of creating a municipal government from scratch.

A slate of candidates, known locally as the “gang of five” because the group campaigned together and helped lead the cityhood drive, led from start to finish.

The winners are Debra H. Lewis with 13.7%; Carol Gamble with 12.9%; James M. Thor with 11.8%; Gary Thompson with 11.5%; and Neil C. Blais with 10.9%. The next closest candidate was Mike Safranski with 9.8%.

“I like what I see so far,” Thor said Tuesday night. “I’m especially pleased seeing the cityhood votes. It has been a lot of work over a lot of years, and cityhood is what this is really all about.”

Thor watched returns come in with his four slate members at TGI Friday’s restaurant in Rancho Santa Margarita, where the candidates were joined by about 50 supporters to celebrate.

Jolene Chase, 27, said she purposely did not vote for any members of the five-candidate slate: “I felt like the gang of five felt it was owed to them.”

But Ken Hockaday, 30, said he voted for the five because they worked hard to deliver political independence. “I think they’ll probably do a good job in the future,” he said.

Rancho Santa Margarita will officially become the county’s 33rd city Jan. 1. The community lies to the east of Mission Viejo and on the western slopes of Cleveland National Forest. Within its borders will be the housing developments of Rancho Santa Margarita, Dove Canyon, Robinson Ranch, Trabuco Highlands, Walden and Rancho Cielo, affluent communities that sprouted up during the real estate rush of the 1980s.

The cityhood campaign faced no organized opposition and enjoyed overwhelming local support from the outset. It garnered 83.4% of the total vote.

Rancho Santa Margarita’s drive for cityhood began in 1995, shortly after the quick political death of a proposed “super city” that would have included nearly every unincorporated community from Las Flores to Coto de Caza. That idea not only was unpopular, it was fiscally impractical because such a municipality couldn’t generate enough tax revenue to support itself.

Community leaders in Rancho Santa Margarita quickly decided to strike out on their own. They were driven by the perception that the county was providing inadequate services, especially in the aftermath of the county’s bankruptcy in December 1994.

County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who represents Rancho Santa Margarita along with Supervisor Tom Wilson, agreed that the five-member county board is too distant, both in miles and in government priorities, to provide the services residents feel are necessary.

“The decisions about where resources should be allocated are best made by those who live in the community. The best politics are local,” said Spitzer, who supported the cityhood campaign. “People shouldn’t have to drive 30 miles to the county seat in Santa Ana to file for a room addition or to petition their elected body for a stop sign.”

The county has, in fact, encouraged unincorporated areas to join existing cities or break away to form their own, if the political support and fiscal wherewithal exist.

“The county would like to relieve itself of the municipal services business,” Wilson said. “We provide enough regional services in terms of health care and social services and the like.”

The new city will assume responsibilities for such local needs as police protection, animal control, community development, street lights and maintenance and general municipal administration. Fire protection and emergency medical service will continue to be provided by the Orange County Fire Authority.

Law Enforcement, Taxes Were Big Factors

A bigger police force was one of the cityhood benefits that advocates dangled before voters. One of the biggest worries for nearly all the residents of the community was that law enforcement has not kept pace with the area’s rapid development.

The new City Council will most likely contract with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to provide law enforcement, just as other South County cities have done. The sheriff handles local law enforcement needs, and the California Highway Patrol works on local traffic matters. But the new City Council is expected to increase police manpower by at least a third.

The promise of local control over sales tax dollars also had vast appeal in the community because that money has flowed into the county’s general fund.

“We can control our own money and control our own destiny,” said Dave Levin, a Rancho Santa Margarita voter who cast a vote for cityhood Tuesday.

Stemming the outflow of tax dollars has been a popular motivation statewide for creating cities, especially in affluent suburban areas, said Alvin Sokolow, a UC Davis public policy specialist who tracks incorporation efforts statewide.

“They want to protect their wealth and erect political barriers around their wealth,” Sokolow said. “You don’t need gates and high walls to do that. Incorporation works fine.”

Still, creating a new city comes with a price. State law requires newly incorporated cities to reimburse the county for lost future revenue. Under the so-called revenue neutrality agreement, Rancho Santa Margarita will pay Orange County $12 million over the next 10 years.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Final Election Returns

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA

D--Cityhood

*--*

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Yes 4,415 83.4 No 876 16.6

*--*

City Council

(If Measure D approved)

5 elected

*--*

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Debra H. Lewis 3,168 13.7 Carol Gamble 2,966 12.9 James M. “Jim” Thor 2,717 11.8 Gary Thompson 2,640 11.5 Neil C. Blais 2,510 10.9 Mike Safranski 2,254 9.8 David J. Raslowsky 1,476 6.4 T. Shane Conway 1,322 5.7 Susan Koenig 1,200 5.2 Val Secarea 814 3.5 Richard B. Oakley 702 3.0 Alex Bassine 498 2.2 Narges Niedzwiecki 395 1.7 Della P. Florence 386 1.7

*--*

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Orange Unified

Trustee Area 2

*--*

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Maureen Aschoff * 4,991 66.5 Paul W. Haynes 2,511 33.5

*--*

Capistrano Unified

A--Bond Measure

(Requires 2/3 approval)

*--*

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Yes 18,886 72.9 No 7,026 27.1