Annexation plan includes Santa Ana Heights, Bay Knolls

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- The City Council tonight will consider starting the

process of annexing Santa Ana Heights and Bay Knolls, as well as the

Newport Coast.

City staff recommends the council allow them to notify the public and

affected agencies of the city’s intentions.

“The council has always expressed an interest [in the annexations],”said

Dave Kiff, deputy city manager. “Now is clearly the time to do it.”

The city has always intended to annex the remaining unincorporated land

in its sphere of influence, Kiff said.

And he said processing the annexations at the same time would be more

cost-effective in terms of hiring consultants, budgeting staff time and

filing applications with the Local Agency Formation Commission, the

state-created body that governs incorporations and annexations.

City Manager Homer Bludau said preparing for all three annexations at the

same time is “good government.”

“We want to try to clean up those pockets of unincorporated land,” he

said.

The proposal does not include the Banning Ranch property in West Newport

Beach, which is also in the city’s sphere of influence and is the site of

a planned 1,700-unit housing development.

In preparation for the Santa Ana Heights annexation, staff will meet with

community representatives Oct. 5, “to talk about whether life would be

different in a city rather than a county,” Kiff said.

“The one thing we’re trying to stress is that life won’t change much,”

Kiff said, adding that the rural character of the city would not be

altered, and no taxes or new zoning rules would be imposed.

City Council members helped Santa Ana Heights with its specific plan 20

years ago, so the city already agrees with Heights residents about the

future direction of the community, Kiff said.

It is not known how the county will respond to the possible annexation of

land so close to John Wayne Airport.

The council’s expected action tonight also includes the controversial

absorption of the Newport Coast by the city, which has taken more than a

year to negotiate.

While city officials and Newport Coast residents still need to decide

some of the crucial financial details of the annexation agreement, Bludau

said he believes something can be worked out before the public hearing on

the annexation application.

The council tonight will consider setting that hearing for Oct. 25, he

said.

F.Y.I

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd.