Perris wants to halt Menifee Valley cityhood

By: SELICIA KENNEDY-ROSS - Staff Writer - The Californian

City officials concerned about part of Romoland becoming incorporated

Perris city leaders are so unhappy about a future election on Menifee Valley cityhood that they have authorized a lawsuit seeking to block the vote.

The City Council voted 4-0 last week, with Councilman John Mott abstaining, to file the suit against the county and the Local Agency Formation Commission, which in October approved the plan for incorporating Menifee, Sun City, Quail Valley and part of Romoland.

The commission's action means voters in that area could decide the issue in June, once the county Board of Supervisors rubber-stamps an election on the measure as expected in the coming weeks.

If more than 50 percent of Menifee Valley voters favor incorporation, the area will become a 48-square-mile city with more than 60,000 people on Oct. 1, 2008.

Perris Mayor Daryl Busch said Monday his city's lawsuit will "challenge some of the conditions LAFCO approved."

"We don't feel they meet the requirements we would like," Busch said. "The city manager and city attorney appeared at the (October) meeting and presented our objections. We expressed concern that we thought the city of Perris could better serve those areas and asked (that) they not be included in Menifee's city limits. LAFCO chose to do otherwise."

Busch said the "primary reason for challenging the incorporation is that whatever happens there has a great effect on the city of Perris and their development interests wouldn't be the same as ours, especially with regards to developer fees and public safety issues."

Perris officials are specifically upset that the new city would include 35 acres in Romoland south of Matthews Road and east of Trumble Road that are in Perris' sphere of influence and therefore identified as appropriate for annexation into that city. The contested 35 acres is host to a shopping center development that would generate sales tax revenues for the jurisdiction that controls that land.

"They might pursue a major development and not have the same interests that we would or undertake the responsibilities that we think they should in terms of traffic and the highway," Busch said. "They may not feel as strongly as we do in their development."

Joe Daugherty, chairman of the pro-cityhood Menifee Valley Incorporation Committee, said he doesn't understand why Perris waited so long to take action against the incorporation efforts or why the city hasn't already annexed the 35 acres.

"I didn't expect it," Daugherty said of Perris' legal challenge. "I don't understand it at all. I don't understand where they are coming from.

"They seem to want to fight over Romoland, but that's really up to the people of Romoland. So far, everyone seems to be in favor of joining Menifee."

At LAFCO's Oct. 25 meeting when the incorporation plan was approved, a letter hand-delivered by Perris' city attorney and city manager expressed the city's concerns.

"Literally at the last minute, they threatened legal action," Daugherty said. "LAFCO approved us anyway, and now Perris wants to sue. I can't say I'm surprised. They voiced their concerns at LAFCO but they had a 45-day draft period -- and at the 11th hour they start this kind of thing? It's silly."

Daugherty said he was not sure if Perris could successfully stall Menifee's incorporation effort, which was launched about 10 years ago.

George Spiliotis, executive officer of the formation commission, was out of the office and could not be reached for comment Monday. In an earlier interview, Spiliotis said the commission asked Perris city leaders for input about the city's future growth and the city's borders two years ago, but the commissioners received no reply.

Joe Rank, who serves as both county counsel and the attorney for the commission, said Monday it would be premature to comment on a lawsuit that has not yet been filed.

"We haven't been served with the lawsuit yet. I can't even tell you what they will allege so I can't tell you how it will impact us, or what they will try to accomplish by the suit," Rank said.

- Contact Selicia Kennedy-Ross at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626

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