Cityhood Petition Submitted to County

Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills cityhood activists submitted their application Tuesday for incorporation.

Cityhood activists paid the $7,500 application fee required by the Local Agency Formation Commission, and have made a partial payment for verification of the 1,900 petition signatures.

Helen Ward, director of Cityhood Now, said the next step is to make a 20-minute presentation Oct. 14 at a public hearing before the commission.

Officials at the same meeting could determine if Lake Forest gets to annex the Foothill Ranch Towne Centre.

Such a move that would kill the foothill communities’ incorporation effort by eliminating a much-needed revenue source.

“We worked too hard for this incorporation effort to end without a vote by the people,” Ward said.

The Towne Centre is a 1.2-million-square-foot shopping center that produces about $2 million annually in sales tax revenue.

It is the linchpin in Foothill Ranch’s incorporation effort, and the fruits of Lake Forest’s proposal to annex 1,502 acres of commercial/industrial property north of the city.