Land Rush Has Covina in the Lead : Annexation: The city has close ties to the would-be developer of choice county land. But Walnut and West Covina also want the property.

Former Diamond Bar City Councilman Gary Miller and his close friend, the mayor of Covina, are jockeying to give Covina the inside track on annexing 52 acres of prime Los Angeles County real estate on which Miller wants to build a gated community of luxury homes.

Covina Mayor Chris Lancaster and at least two other members of the City Council--Chris Richardson and Gary Coffey--say they welcome Miller’s proposal in concept. He wants to build 40 homes, each priced between $800,000 and $1 million, on the property, a patch of rolling hills along the San Bernardino Freeway.

Meanwhile, officials in two other cities--Walnut and West Covina--also are eyeing the property covetously. They, however, raise questions about the large scale of the proposed development.

The property would bring the city that annexes it close to $1 million in property tax revenue annually when the luxury tract homes are built, Lancaster said.

Miller’s G. Miller Development Co. is in escrow in the purchase of the land from a Dutch company. Miller will not reveal the purchase price, and said specific plans for the homes have not been drawn up.

He has asked county officials to allow Covina to annex the property, which is south of the freeway, plus six homes north of the freeway that connect Covina to the land. The six homes are essential to his plan because they provide the only link between the city and the Miller property.

The county’s Local Agency Formation Commission--a seven-member board that handles annexation requests--will hold a public hearing Wednesday to consider the matter.

For now, Miller and Covina may have the advantage because LAFCO’s executive director, Ruth Bennel, is recommending that the commission approve the annexation. If it does so, the Covina City Council will schedule a hearing and vote on the matter.

But officials in Walnut and West Covina plan to attend the LAFCO meeting and argue their case for annexing the land to their communities instead.

They argue that their cities would be more appropriate choices because of location, prestige and the quality of fire and police protection they could provide.

For Walnut, annexing the land would be part of a broader annexation bid to take over the Miller property plus an older residential area and a 127-home project being built by developer George Meeker. City Manager Linda Holmes said the entire area would be better suited to Walnut, where the average home is newer and more expensive than homes in Covina and West Covina.

“It has the same rural ambience as Walnut,” Holmes said. “It looks exactly like (Walnut’s) equestrian areas: narrow streets, winding roads, a country-like atmosphere.”

Officials in West Covina, meanwhile, argue that the whole area naturally falls within their sphere of influence because it is south of the freeway, while all of Covina is north of the freeway--making it necessary to connect Miller’s land to the city with a “bridge” of six houses.

“It’s a gerrymander thing,” West Covina Councilwoman Nancy Manners said. “There is no contiguity, none whatsoever, between Miller’s land and Covina. Why do this difficult thing to get (Miller’s property) up to Covina when we’ve got more logical boundaries here?”

Miller, however, insists that Covina is the logical choice.

“It makes sense to be part of Covina,” said Miller, whose term on the Diamond Bar City Council expired last year. “We’ve been talking to Covina since the middle of last year.”

Added Lancaster, who as a political consultant managed Miller’s unsuccessful 1990 state Senate bid: “Gary knows our council better than the others because of my help. We’re a council he can work with.”

Miller said his personal and political relationship with Lancaster is helpful, but is not the reason he is pushing for Covina to annex the land.

However, Covina does seem to offer fewer potential obstacles to his plan. In addition to the council support, owners of the six houses needed to form the “bridge” would not be able to mount a campaign against annexation because their land does not constitute more than 50% of the annexation area’s value.

Opposition might be more likely in Walnut or West Covina. Last year, for instance, the Walnut City Council rejected a proposal for a gated community, saying such developments are too exclusive. In recent years, slow-growth homeowners’ groups have become more active, and the city is “not known for being the easiest city to build in,” Walnut Councilman Tom Sykes said.

Meanwhile, West Covina officials are concerned that the area might be subject to mudslides, which may limit the amount of development allowed. In addition, the property is near a county-protected ecological area, which may limit the number and size of homes that can be built, said Mike Miller, an official who handles West Covina’s annexation requests.