Annexation ready to take place in July

June Casagrande

East Santa Ana Heights, Bay Knolls and the Emerson area will

become part of Newport Beach on July 1. But some surrounding areas

may not be so lucky.

Only about 40 people protested the annexation of the three areas

to Newport Beach during the county’s official protest period, which

ended Monday morning. Under county rules, if more than half of the

registered voters living in the area had protested the annexation,

the process would have been put to a vote or stopped. East Santa Ana

Heights is near the northern end of the Back Bay and has a population

of about 1,000; Bay Knolls has about 250 residents; and the Emerson

tract includes just nine parcels.

A majority of residents in the area who have spoken at public

forums have supported annexation to Newport because of the city’s

high level of services, the prestige of a Newport Beach address and

the resulting potential increase in their property values.

“I am very thrilled,” said Marlene Hester, a resident of Bayview

Avenue in East Santa Ana Heights. “We’ve been hoping and wanting to

be a part of Newport Beach officially for as long as we’ve been

here.”

The annexation is less of a boon to the city. Because Santa Ana

Heights is a redevelopment area, most of its taxes are earmarked

through 2035 for paying back redevelopment funds put forth by the

county. As a result, the city will receive only about $110,000 a year

in tax revenues from the area until that time. Officials say that as

the years go by this will be less than the cost of providing police,

fire and other services to the area.

City Manager Homer Bludau said the city’s takeover of the area

should be a smooth one. The city already provides some fire and

police service to the area. Unlike the rest of the city, which

receives free trash pickup, residents of the newly annexed areas will

continue to pay for a contractor to provide trash pickup.

The city has assured residents that taxes will not go up. The city

does not have the power to raise taxes unless 2/3 of the residents

approve doing so, and officials say there’s no push to request such a

tax increase.

A hearing held Monday that slam-dunked East Santa Ana Heights

annexation to Newport Beach cast doubt on a plan to annex nearby

areas to Costa Mesa. The Santa Ana Country Club, a tract of homes and

businesses south of Mesa Drive, have all been designated by the

county as areas to be annexed to Costa Mesa. But the country club and

many of its neighbors have said they want to become part of Newport

Beach, not Costa Mesa.

A petition was filed Monday morning that could stop the Costa Mesa

annexation, but officials won’t be sure until they count and verify

the signatures, said Bob Aldrich of the county’s Local Agency

Formation Commission.

West Santa Ana Heights, which was originally slated to become part

of Costa Mesa, is under review after a large number of residents from

that area said they, too, want to be in Newport.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].