Laguna Niguel ‘Junior City’ Vote Delayed

Laguna Niguel residents who expected to vote this June on whether to form a “junior city” must wait at least until November because of some last-minute maneuvering by a group of dissident Community Council members.

“We have some breathing space now,” said Councilman Paul Christiansen, who spoke for the group at the Wednesday meeting of the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission. “We’ve bought some time, and we will be able to protect the interests of the residents of Laguna Niguel.”

But another council member confronted Christiansen after the meeting and accused him of misleading his constituents. “When are you going to stop lying to the public?” Bob Hurst, who favored a June election, asked angrily.

The delay will cost the community about $1.3 million in property tax revenues in the next fiscal year.

Last month, aided by a last-minute push from Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) went against the recommendation of its staff and unanimously agreed to allow residents to decide this June whether they want to form a community services district in Laguna Niguel.

Riley Guided Action

The Board of Supervisors was to consider the measure for final approval Wednesday morning, just one day before the deadline for putting the issue on the June ballot. But last week, six Laguna Niguel Community Council members and three residents asked LAFCO to reconsider its decision. State law prevented the supervisors from voting on the measure before LAFCO had ruled on the group’s appeal.

At the LAFCO meeting Wednesday afternoon, it was Riley--this time as a LAFCO member--who guided the decision made about the community, which is in his district. But this time, he was urging LAFCO to grant the appeal for a another hearing.

“In my 12 years as a public official, the recent intensity of concern in the community is beyond anything I’ve experienced. I think a monthlong delay on this would be ideal for all parties involved.”

The commission voted to reopen public hearings on the issue in May, time enough for the November ballot but too late for the one in June.

Called a ‘Junior City’

The services district, often called a “junior city” because it can be a steppingstone toward incorporation, would assume responsibility for street sweeping, landscaping, recreation and street lighting, services now provided by the county. It also would retain about $1.3 million in “special district augmentation funds”--part of the community’s property tax funds--that will stay in the county’s hands if the district is not formed.

The Board of Supervisors said last year that augmentation funds no longer could be used for strictly local services such as maintaining a baseball diamond but can be used only for countywide services such as libraries and fire protection. A community services district, however, would maintain control over the funds under state law.

Members of the dissident group asked LAFCO to hear the issue again because of what they say are unresolved problems with liability insurance and district boundaries, Christiansen said. “Now we have time to clarify whether we will get liability insurance and at what premium,” he said. “And the people of South Laguna, who were not fully aware of what was going on, will be given full consideration.”

More than 1,400 residents from the southern, or coastal, Laguna Niguel communities signed petitions opposing a June vote, said council member Pat Bates, who represents part of that area. Although some of the 1,400 might oppose the idea of a communitywide district, choosing instead to form their own coastal district, she does not, Bates said.

“I still support the formation of a CSD (community services district) that will unite all of Laguna Niguel,” she said.