Annexation Foes May Be Waging a Flawed Fight

As they see it, residents of an Aliso Viejo neighborhood have a choice: They can be annexed by Laguna Hills at the end of the month or they can protest the move and join their neighbors in the community’s planned incorporation next year.

They’re only half right.

Without resistance from residents, the 150-acre residential neighborhood will become part of Laguna Hills in three weeks. But if their petition drive succeeds, they won’t automatically shift back into Aliso Viejo.

They’ll be their own little island of county land instead.

“They’re not fully informed,” Kelly Buchanan, one of the 1,800 residents in the affected neighborhood, said of her neighbors. “They are threatening our chances of becoming part of any city. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

A group of residents who feel loyal to Aliso Viejo are circulating petitions against the annexation. The Laguna Hills City Council is scheduled to vote on the final annexation proposal Thursday, and residents have until then to get their petition completed.

Fifteen-year Aliso Viejo resident Sheila Day, co-chairwoman of the petition drive, said she was under the impression that if they stopped the annexation effort, the neighborhood simply would go into Aliso Viejo’s cityhood boundaries.

“It never occurred to me that we wouldn’t be part of Aliso Viejo,” Day said. “I think it’s so exciting to be part of a vibrant, young city.”

An annexation vote wouldn’t halt the protests, she said.

“We’re not going to stop. Personally, I want to scratch [the annexation],” Day said. “But to get it to a vote would be fair.”

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According to state law, if a petition opposing the annexation is signed by more than half of the registered voters living in the affected area, it would terminate the annexation. The neighborhood would remain unincorporated until it is annexed.

If more than 25% of the voters oppose the annexation by petition, Laguna Hills would be forced to bring the issue to a vote. More than 1,000 registered voters live in the area.

Aliso Viejo cityhood proponents had fought to keep the neighborhood in its incorporation boundaries last month, but a competing annexation application by Laguna Hills was approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission, the state agency that oversees annexations and city formations. Aliso Viejo residents will vote on cityhood in March.

LAFCO commissioners said they voted for the annexation because the residential community would be a financial burden to the new city. Costs to provide services to the area would exceed revenue generated, which includes property taxes or motor vehicle fees, said Dan Schwarz, LAFCO policy analyst.

The petition being circulated in the neighborhood just east of Moulton Parkway says signers “consider ourselves members of the Aliso Viejo community and wish to remain part of that community.”

However, Schwarz said, it may be possible, but it’s not guaranteed. “If the residents successfully protest the annexation, the new city [of Aliso Viejo] would have the option to pursue an annexation or not,” Schwarz said.

LAFCO would anticipate an annexation attempt by the new city, but it will be up to the new city council, which would also be elected in March, he said.

An annexation attempt requires a city to pay a fee, to complete a lengthy application process and to negotiate with the county on how to divide the area’s property taxes. That’s a challenge for any city--especially a city in its first year, Schwarz said.

“If necessary, the county of Orange and LAFCO would make every effort to help the new city make that happen,” Schwarz said.

Carmen Vali, president of Aliso Viejo’s cityhood committee, said she hopes to be part of the city council making that decision.

“They are part of the planned community of Aliso Viejo. I would absolutely vote for it,” said Vali, who has helped the residents gather signatures. “It would be a walk in the park compared to an incorporation.”

Laguna Hills Mayor Joel T. Lautenschleger said he will continue to encourage residents to exercise their right to protest, but only if residents understand that fighting off Laguna Hills does not mean they will be part of Aliso Viejo.

“This is certainly the time and the process for people to petition,” Lautenschleger said. “But I’m very concerned people are not being told all the facts.”

Assistant City Manager Don White said he believes that if the matter comes to a vote, the majority of residents in the affected area would vote in favor of Laguna Hills. Vali said petitioners are hearing an even split of opinions about the neighborhood’s future.