Annexation

In the pressure cooker of election night, while waiting for results and then reacting to them with all possible haste, it's easy for reporters to forget the important things — like what kind of food people served at their parties, and who showed up, with or without clever quips for the media. In that spirit, here are some tidbits from Newport-Mesa, and the GOP bash in Irvine, from Tuesday night's festivities. Newport-Mesa school board hopeful Sandy Asper's party at a Newport Dunes clubhouse featured Mexican food, a very slow laptop delivering Orange County election results, and a large TV with national results on CNN. Just before the first results came in after 8 p.m., the crowd of about 40 clapped and chanted "San-dy!

Costa Mesa and Newport Beach reached an impasse in their attempts to annex West Santa Ana Heights and Banning Ranch on Friday. Sharon Browning, a consultant working on the talks facilitated by the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, based her decision on confidential interviews with city officials and representatives of the Santa Ana Country Club and Banning Ranch. Browning's "professional judgment, which I trust, was that there was not much chance for meaningful discussion between the two parties at this time," said Joyce Crosthwaite, the commission's executive officer.

Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher hasn't been in step with President Bush on issues such as immigration, but he stuck closer to Bush this week in his comments on climate change. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hobnobbed with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Long Beach earlier this week to talk about how to reduce emissions that some consider responsible for global warming. In response, Rohrabacher's office sent out a press release offering his take on "the myth of human-caused global warming."

With Newport Beach and Costa Mesa officials scheduled to meet Aug. 2 to begin negotiating annexation issues, the question is: What is there for them to talk about? Four unincorporated areas ? West Santa Ana Heights, Banning Ranch, a neighborhood south of Mesa Drive and the Santa Ana Country Club ? will undoubtedly be on the table. But whether both cities are ready to give as well as take remains to be seen. The cities' earlier negotiations failed, which resulted in Newport applying to the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission to annex West Santa Ana Heights.

SANTA ANA ? Instead of becoming part of Newport Beach Wednesday, West Santa Ana Heights residents got another delay. The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, a seven-member body that decides annexations, on Wednesday voted to wait until November to consider adding West Santa Ana Heights to Newport Beach. In the meantime, Newport and Costa Mesa officials will come back to the negotiating table to discuss other unincorporated areas. Costa Mesa and Newport have been tugging on West Santa Ana Heights, a 64-acre unincorporated area southwest of John Wayne Airport, for at least four years.

The city of Newport Beach's application to annex West Santa Ana Heights fulfills a commitment to Orange County's Local Agency Formation Commission and the local community that East and West Santa Ana Heights will be rejoined. The Santa Ana Heights community was bifurcated by Newport Beach's annexation of East Santa Ana Heights in 2003. The city did not attempt to annex West Santa Ana Heights at the time because it was not within Newport Beach's sphere of influence. Following Costa Mesa's unsuccessful attempt to annex West Santa Ana Heights, the formation commission asked Newport Beach if it would consider annexing West Santa Ana Heights.

Concerned homeowners of about 280 condos in Newport Terrace may flock to a Wednesday annexation hearing after Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau warned them their addresses could be changed from Newport Beach to Costa Mesa. Newport Terrace won't be on the table when the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission meets Wednesday to talk about annexations, and officials said it would be all but impossible for the area to be removed from Newport if residents object. But the neighborhood is connected to Newport Beach by a one-foot-wide strip of land that is part of the annexation discussion, and residents' fears illustrate the complexity of the issues involved.

Newport Beach may have to give up a strip of its boundary around Banning Ranch to annex West Santa Ana Heights. Orange County's Local Agency Formation Commission, a seven-member group that rules on annexations, on Thursday announced a staff recommendation that would allow Newport to annex 83 acres of unincorporated West Santa Ana Heights ? if the city cedes a nearly 2,400-foot section of the strip of land surrounding largely undeveloped Banning Ranch. That strip could open the door for Costa Mesa to try to take in part of Banning Ranch, which would put the city closer to the coastline than it's ever been.

Banning Ranch's best use is open Byron de Arakal suggests that the owners of Banning Ranch might prefer annexation to Costa Mesa because Newport Beach's Greenlight ordinance would prevent development to its "highest and best use" ("Watchdog," March 19, 2006). In fact, the Newport Beach general plan ? already ? allows for more than 2,700 new residential units and more than 235,000 square feet of office space on Banning Ranch, so it appears no Greenlight referendum would be required.