City of Villages May Get to Add Just One More

SANTA ANA HEIGHTS — A city that has been expanding steadily since it wasincorporated in 1906, Newport Beach may soon get a bit bigger.

Just south of John Wayne Airport is an unincorporated area of the county bordered on all sides by Newport Beach. And if residents have their way, the neighborhood called Santa Ana Heights will soon join the fashionable city that surrounds it.

“Newport Beach is around us right now, 360 degrees,” said Dan DeMille, a builder who lives and works in Santa Ana Heights. “So it makes sense that it (the neighborhood) have the address to reflect the location.”

“Our kids go to school in the city, all of the community identification is there,” added Buck Johns, a prominent developer who moved to the neighborhood 15 years ago. “We align ourselves very closely with the needs of Newport Beach.”

First settled in the World War II era, Santa Ana Heights is now home to nearly 1,200 people. And a few dozen horses.

Tall office buildings and hotels, an apartment complex, gas stations and fast-food outlets line the north and eastern boundaries of the neighborhood. The neighborhood streets--named for exotic trees--contain a couple hundred modest, single-family homes as well as several estates with beautiful bay views. Nearly 100 lots are also zoned for equestrian use.

Here, horses wander the streets alongside dogs, creating a slice of country in the midst of this densely developed community. But noise from airplanes flying overhead and the nearby Corona del Mar freeway are reminders of the urban surroundings.

“The location is ideal. . . . It’s the closest thing the Newport Beach area has to a country view, (yet it’s) close to the airport and business districts,” DeMille pointed out. “At the same time, those are considered the biggest negatives.”

Santa Ana Heights residents have been seeking annexation to Newport Beach for years, but squabbles over the airport noise have left the city and county unwilling to cooperate. With some recent resolution of those issues, residents now hope the annexation will work within the next two years.

The neighborhood is younger, more diverse and not as wealthy as the city it hopes to join, according to the 1990 census.

The median income in Santa Ana Heights is $35,426, while in Newport Beach it is over $60,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly half of Santa Ana Heights residents earn between $20,000 and $50,000 annually, with only 5% claiming salaries of more than $100,000 a year. In Newport Beach, the largest salary category is the 28% whose members earn more than $100,000, according the U.S. Census.

Officials say that annexation would not change taxes but that it might improve police and fire services since city stations are closer than the county facilities. Santa Ana Heights residents also expect to benefit from faster mail delivery because letters would no longer be routed through a post office in Santa Ana.

Mostly, though, residents want to join Newport Beach to clear up confusion over the community’s location. Potential business is lost, officials say, because clients confuse the area with the city of Santa Ana. Visitors also have trouble finding the neighborhood on a map.

“When you give someone the Santa Ana address, they get the conception that it’s somewhere else,” said DeMille, a builder. “It’s more of an identity thing than trying to move into a fashionable neighborhood. We are where we are and Santa Ana is a long way off.”

Newport Beach City Council members voted in December to support annexation, provided it is not too expensive. In December, the council also sent a letter urging the post office to let Santa Ana Heights residents use a Newport Beach address--a change that could take effect as early as June.

“As long as it doesn’t cost the city anything, why shouldn’t they be part of the city?” said Newport Beach Mayor Clarence J. Turner. “Most of them consider themselves in Newport Beach anyway.”