17 years ago, Laguna Woods won fight for independence
Most longtime residents of south Orange County remember the globe, even if they had never stepped foot inside a place called Leisure World or understood what existed beyond its gates.
The 32-foot steel orb, which clearly was a likeness of Earth, was a great identifier of the community of people older than 55.
But Leisure World hasn’t been Leisure World since 2005, when copyright and royalty concerns entered the picture, and the globe is gone, scrapped as part of a settlement.
The story of the community now known as Laguna Woods goes back quite a bit further, before it became the county’s 32nd city.
In late 1997, a divided Orange County Board of Supervisors decided to formally explore flying commercial cargo jets out of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, before the Marines were to leave in two years.
The Irvine mayor, Christina L. Shea, declared this move nothing short of war.
Then-Supervisor Charles V. Smith backed the installation of an international airport, arguing along with others that the county was losing $4.9 billion annually by having cargo shipped from airports outside the county, according to the Los Angeles Times. That money included revenue that goes to other airports, taxes and economic activities generated by the airports, it was reported.
Some South County residents didn’t understand why John Wayne Airport, near Newport Beach, wasn’t sufficient.
Shea had it right. This was the start of a political war. Communities in South County, in fear of being under the flight paths leading to and from a potential new civilian airport in what was then El Toro, figured that they had to get active.
The groundswell of sentiment against an airport took the form of cityhood initiatives, with people thinking that was their best bet for the clout they needed.
Enter the Leisure World residents, including Bob Ring, a ringleader of the movement.
“Councilman Bert Hack, basically, and myself and a few others, Leslie Keane, the first city manager, really decided we had to make it an airport fight or we weren’t gonna make it,” former Mayor Ring said about incorporation. “Most of the people here couldn’t see the advantages. We were really the leaders of the whole airport fight.”
Foes of cityhood feared that taxes and fees could go up, and that creating a five-member City Council would add another layer of government and politicize the community.
They also disagreed with revenue projections concluding that 35-year-old Leisure World could support itself as a city.
But that it became in March 1999. Indeed, the vote was close, 5,394 for cityhood to 5,052 against.
The El Toro airport proposal was eventually defeated.
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More than 90% of Laguna Woods is Laguna Village, a 55-and-older community.
The village is a collection of clubhouses and residential areas, numbered in the order built. Construction began in 1963, and some of the oldest of its 2,584 residential structures are feeling their age, just as the residents are feeling theirs.
The village seems like a city within a city, but Laguna Woods City Manager Chris Macon says the relationship is no different from the “thousands of homeowners associations in cities across California.”
Indeed, the village is made up of a number of homeowners associations and the Golden Rainbow Foundation, the nonprofit overseeing the clubhouses, streets and other common amenities.
The sprawling village is 2,100 acres with seven clubhouses, an 814-seat theater, two golf courses, an equestrian center, three lawn bowling greens, several pools, 10 tennis courts and numerous other amenities. So large is Laguna Village, that major streets intersect it.
It has its own cable system; the Rainbow Foundation, known by most as the GRF, owns broadband and closed-circuit television stations.
The average age in the village is 78, though the average age of those moving in is 68.
People tend to stay, Heather Rasmussen, senior public affairs specialist for the village, said in explaining the difference in the numbers.
The Towers, which contains 311 units, skews much higher. The average age there is 88. These are people who aren’t quite ready for assisted living, she said.
There are no assisted living facilities in the village, though such accommodations are located just outside the 14 security gates.
In the Towers, residents have access to dinner daily at one of two restaurants, housekeeping and certain other amenities, all included in the association fee, which is about $1,200 a month. This compares with $650 elsewhere in the community.
On a recent sunny day, the grounds looked green and lush, the buildings well-tended, though aging. Hills add to the beauty inside the gates.
Some residents busied themselves in the art room, creating professional-looking sculptures out of clay and leaving them to dry.
Outside the theater, a sign announced the impending appearances of Lucie Arnaz and Gene Kelly’s wife.
In the main office, people lined up with requests for guest passes and ID cards or questions about property-related issues.
Golf carts are a common mode of transportation.
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Several efforts at incorporating Leisure World had been launched before the Local Agency Formation Commission signed off on the final proposal in 1998.
In 1971, a mere seven years after the first residents moved in, neighboring Laguna Beach annexed territory adjacent to Leisure World’s western limits, causing concerns among residents, according to the Leisure World Incorporation Report of 1998.
In 1979, the Leisure World governing board hired a consulting firm to prepare a report on alternatives for local governance.
In 1981, Leisure World leaders authorized the preparation for incorporation to LAFCO. But the financial feasibility study said revenue would not be sufficient to support incorporation.
“At that time, many of the commercial developments which did not exist were still in the planning stages,” the Leisure World Incorporation Report said.
The following year, Irvine considered annexing commercial areas along Moulton Parkway, in effect dividing Leisure World. In response, 12,000 residents signed petitions in support of the incorporation of Leisure World and some adjacent areas, the main report said.
But again, financial feasibility was considered lacking.
There needed to be “sales tax revenue from adjacent shopping areas,” the key report said.
In 1987, an attempt was made to incorporate several communities into a proposed municipality of Saddleback Valley.
“At the same time, the residents of Laguna Hills filed a application for incorporation that included Leisure World,” the Leisure World Incorporation Report of 1998 said.
Both Saddleback Valley and Laguna Hills incorporation efforts were defeated at the polls — the Laguna Hills’ effort largely through the “voting strength of the residents of Leisure World.”
In 1991, residents of Laguna Hills were successful in another incorporation attempt that excluded Leisure World. And soon, the Golden Rain Foundation began to study the incorporation of Leisure World again but took no formal action.
In 1996, GRF directors took up the issue again, hiring a consultant, and by summer of 1997, the preliminary feasibility report was completed, showing financial feasibility at last.
It took proponents four weeks to gather the required number of signatures. On Sept. 2, 1997, 4,276 signatures were turned over to LAFCO.
In the first seven years, some state help would come in the form of motor vehicle in-lieu fees, the report of 1998 said. After the seventh year, the formula would change to one based on the actual population of the community. The community would still be in the black but the numbers would go down.
But within the grasp of the pro-cityhood people was what they had sought: more local representation. They would have five council members elected within their community rather than one supervisor elected by voters from a much wider area.
The election was set for March 2, 1999, with the effective date requested by proponents of March 24, 1999.
Meanwhile, four bills had been introduced in Sacramento as the fight to repeal or reduce the motor vehicle in-lieu fees took shape.
Before long, cityhood would never look so good again in Orange County.
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There is only one really large unincorporated area in O.C., and it’s in South County, said Carolyn Emery, Orange County LAFCO’s executive officer, adding that discussions involving the incorporation of a city there have been going on for the past two years.
Once Rancho Mission Viejo is completed by 2033, the new development will include about 14,000 housing units and almost 38,000 residents. With the communities of Coto de Caza, Ladera Ranch and Los Flores, the total population in unincorporated south Orange County is expected to be over 70,000, according to an Oct. 14 report titled South Orange County Governance Visioning Process, another LAFCO document.
“The big question: Is this Orange County’s next and last, 35th city?” said Emery, explaining that any or all these areas could combine. But they could also be annexation targets of the nearby cities of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.
(Following Laguna Woods down the incorporation path were Rancho Santa Margarita in 2000 as the county’s 33rd city and Aliso Viejo in 2001 as the 34th, according to the county website. Also relative babies of incorporation are Mission Viejo (1988), Laguna Niguel and Dana Point (1989), and Laguna Hills and Lake Forest (1991.) )
The development timeline suggests nothing will happen soon, Emery added. Cost is another hurdle.
“It’s a challenge because incorporations today are not feasible,” she said. “It’s very expensive to run a city and provide services to residents of the area. What made incorporation feasible when Laguna Woods was incorporated was funding by the state, the vehicle licensing money. You would get this bump from this revenue that would get you started. That money is no longer available, and it’s huge.”
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Debbie Zucco, deborah.zucco@latimes.com
