Council agrees to begin annexation

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- The City Council voted 5 to 0 Monday to take its

first step in expanding Newport Beach boundaries to include Santa Ana

Heights, Bay Knolls and the Newport Coast. But council members emphasized

that none of the three areas will have to join if residents do not want

to.

Mayor Dennis O’Neil referred, in particular, to the controversial,

yearlong debate the city has had with residents of the Newport Coast. If

residents there don’t want to be a part of Newport Beach, the mayor said,

Newport Beach won’t force them.

City staff hope to begin soon the required process of notifying the

public and affected agencies of the city’s plans.

Councilmen Tom Thompson and John Noyes were absent from the meeting.

Annexing the remaining unincorporated land in the city’s sphere of

influence has always been a goal, said Dave Kiff, deputy city manager.

Processing all three annexations at once, he said, will be more

economical 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.

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

City Manager Homer Bludau agreed.

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 development.

In preparation for the Santa Ana Heights annexation, staff plan to

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 Santa Ana Heights 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 would respond to the possible

annexation of the land, especially considering its proximity to John

Wayne Airport.

While city officials and Newport Coast residents must decide a number

of crucial financial details of the annexation agreement, Bludau said he

believes something can be worked out before the Oct. 25 planned public

hearing on the annexation application.