Hidden Hills Annexation OKd Despite Protests : Development: Opponents are told to take their fight to the City Council. The city plans to use the site for affordable housing.

A Los Angeles County commission approved an annexation Wednesday that the city of Hidden Hills sought to provide land for affordable housing, advising residents who testified against the proposal to take their fight to the City Council.

Members of the Local Agency Formation Commission, which makes annexation recommendations to the county Board of Supervisors, said their function was to rule only on the land annexation, not on development proposals for the site.

The City Council supports a plan calling for 46 units of lower-cost housing for senior citizens. The project would be built on a portion of 25 acres the city would annex on the southern edge of its current boundary.

“If the people don’t like the annexation and what will happen with the annexation, the point is that you have to use your influence with your City Council to stop it,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Edmund D. Edelman, a member of the panel.

LAFCO member James A. Van Horn Jr., from the Artesia City Council, told four residents who spoke against the annexation: “The vast majority of what I’ve heard from you are questions you have to determine at the ballot box.”

Two residents, Howard Klein and David Stanley, said they plan to do exactly that by running, along with a third candidate, for the council in the April 10 election.

The council has favored the lower-cost housing plan as a way to comply with state law and settle a lawsuit that was brought because the city used a redevelopment agency to help finance a flood-control project. State law requires 20% of redevelopment funds to be spent on affordable housing and requires cities to provide for affordable housing through its planning and zoning laws.

Hidden Hills is a gated community of about 2,000 residents in estate-size houses.

“This has been the most debated issue . . . in the history of Hidden Hills,” said City Atty. Wayne K. Lemeiux. In an advisory poll conducted this month by the council, about two-thirds of the participants objected to some form of the council’s affordable housing plan.

Outside the hearing room, Stanley told reporters that residents who oppose the plan fear it will change the town’s rural character.

“You don’t have a bunch of people who are bigots or who hate old people,” Stanley said.

Stanley and other residents told the commission that traffic and increased demand for city services were among their primary concerns. But LAFCO Executive Director Ruth Bennell earlier this month found that development of the area, as described by the city in its annexation application, would not significantly affect traffic or city services.

Annexation still requires approval of the Board of Supervisors, and the Hidden Hills City Council still must hold public hearings on the issue of how the land will be developed.