Residents’ Right to Choose

The incorporation of a new city understandably is an emotional issue that is certain to cause mixed feelings and conflict. This is especially true when one area considering cityhood is including a neighborhood whose residents want to join an adjacent area’s cityhood bid.

Several thousand residents in a coastal strip between South Laguna and Dana Point found themselves in that perplexing situation as Laguna Niguel sought cityhood, including the coastal strip in its boundaries. But residents of that area indicated a desire to be part of the Dana Point-Capistrano Beach incorporation.

The county Local Agency Formation Commission, which determines formal boundaries, called for an advisory vote in the coastal strip area and 61% of the residents who voted Nov. 3 said they wanted to be part of Dana Point. Lafco commissioners last Wednesday honored that vote and, in setting a cityhood election for Dana Point, included the coastal land in its proposed boundaries.

That’s fair. It’s understandable that both proposed cities would want the coastal area. But when residents can go either way, they should have the right to choose.