Recalling the years of struggle for birthing a city
(Part 1 of a five-part series)
Most residents are familiar with the reasons Yorba Lindans in 1967 chose to incorporate as a city: several annexation attempts by surrounding communities and unpopular planning decisions by county officials led to citizens desiring to chart their own course into the future.
Less well-remembered, perhaps, is the long, agonizing court battle to allow residents to vote on incorporation, how close the area came to merging with Anaheim, Brea or Placentia and the raw intensity of political emotions during the city’s fledgling years.
Residents and landowners of the pre-incorporation era saw that a yes vote for cityhood would result in an assortment of winners and losers, for few decisions are truly “win-win” for everybody.
That’s why farm groups representing the area’s growers, longtime landowners, holders of oil and gas leases and the Orange County Board of Supervisors generally favored the status quo. They feared that a city independent of county control would restrict their land-use options.
And they were right. City proponents were mostly the newer residents who purchased homes built in the 1950s and 1960s. They wanted to revise the zoning laws and create a new General Plan to preserve the low-density, semirural environment they found so attractive.
The third and eventually successful attempt to incorporate took four years of courtroom wrangling before a state Supreme Court ruling allowed residents to vote on Oct. 24, 1967.
During the 1963-67 interval between filing for incorporation and setting an election date, voters axed an Anaheim annexation attempt and seriously considered a plan to merge with Placentia.
Interestingly, the Yorba Linda Star editorially supported the Anaheim deal, and Roland Bigonger, who became Yorba Linda’s first mayor, helped negotiate the Placentia proposal.
Key factors in the 1,963 to 638 incorporation victory included limiting the city’s initial boundaries to areas of known supporters and a surprisingly fulfilled promise of no city property taxes.
Members of the first council enjoyed a six-month municipal honeymoon before a bitter resurgence of political infighting. Out of 27 council candidates, voters discovered that, in addition to choosing two individuals who opposed cityhood, they had elected a moderate, growth-oriented governing body.
Council’s approval of an apartment complex – nicknamed “the barracks” – on Yorba Linda Boulevard east of Imperial Highway energized a slate of low-density, slow-growth candidates, who unceremoniously dumped three of the original councilmen in the second election in 1970.
But first, Bigonger, along with Burt Brooks, Whit Cromwell, Bill Ross and Herb Warren, made a number of lasting decisions, resulting in an environment the city still enjoys today.
In a pre-annexation deal, the council compromised with a developer to permit smaller lots than allowed by zoning. They said Anaheim promised the builder even smaller sizes, so they made an adjustment to bring a large eastside area into Yorba Linda’s domain.
Also, the council accepted title to an old water company’s canal right-of-way – the genesis for today’s trail system – rather than allowing it to be ceded to adjacent property owners, as happened in Placentia.
But some residents faulted council members for not challenging Placentia on the commercial property, including a Ford dealership, on Yorba Linda’s western border, thinking a good legal case could be made for including the land and its sales tax revenue in Yorba Linda’s city limits.
However, Yorba Linda’s legal boothill is cluttered with dusty remnants of many “sure bet” lawsuits espoused by various city leaders and political wannabes over the years.
A FINAL NOTE
Much more information on this interesting era in the city’s history can be found in the reference collection at the Yorba Linda Library, 18181 Imperial Highway, which includes a nearly complete run of the weekly editions of the Yorba Linda Star on microfilm.
Also, ask to see Dennis Swift’s “Growing Graciously: An Oral History of Yorba Linda’s Municipal Incorporation,” a project of the oral history program at California State University, Fullerton, completed with help from Yorba Linda’s then library director, CarolAnn Tassios.
Swift’s interviews with Bigonger, Cromwell, Ross and Warren, as well as Bill Drake, Jim Erickson, Roy Knauft, Barbara Machado, Sid Radus and Art Simonian were conducted in 1989.
Although the participants often present conflicting information on the city’s early history and the forces that shaped the community, Yorba Linda is fortunate to have a transcript of these taped interviews, especially since five of the pioneer residents have died since they were interviewed.
And the familiar March Butz volume “Yorba Linda: Its History” is available for checkout. The always optimistic book traces the area’s history through the 1970s.
Most residents are familiar with the reasons Yorba Lindans in 1967 chose to incorporate as a city: several annexation attempts by surrounding communities and unpopular planning decisions by county officials led to citizens desiring to chart their own course into the future.
Less well-remembered, perhaps, is the long, agonizing court battle to allow residents to vote on incorporation, how close the area came to merging with Anaheim, Brea or Placentia and the raw intensity of political emotions during the city’s fledgling years.
Residents and landowners of the pre-incorporation era saw that a yes vote for cityhood would result in an assortment of winners and losers, for few decisions are truly “win-win” for everybody.
That’s why farm groups representing the area’s growers, longtime landowners, holders of oil and gas leases and the Orange County Board of Supervisors generally favored the status quo. They feared that a city independent of county control would restrict their land-use options.
And they were right. City proponents were mostly the newer residents who purchased homes built in the 1950s and 1960s. They wanted to revise the zoning laws and create a new General Plan to preserve the low-density, semirural environment they found so attractive.
The third and eventually successful attempt to incorporate took four years of courtroom wrangling before a state Supreme Court ruling allowed residents to vote on Oct. 24, 1967.
During the 1963-67 interval between filing for incorporation and setting an election date, voters axed an Anaheim annexation attempt and seriously considered a plan to merge with Placentia.
Interestingly, the Yorba Linda Star editorially supported the Anaheim deal, and Roland Bigonger, who became Yorba Linda’s first mayor, helped negotiate the Placentia proposal.
Key factors in the 1,963 to 638 incorporation victory included limiting the city’s initial boundaries to areas of known supporters and a surprisingly fulfilled promise of no city property taxes.
Members of the first council enjoyed a six-month municipal honeymoon before a bitter resurgence of political infighting. Out of 27 council candidates, voters discovered that, in addition to choosing two individuals who opposed cityhood, they had elected a moderate, growth-oriented governing body.
Council’s approval of an apartment complex – nicknamed “the barracks” – on Yorba Linda Boulevard east of Imperial Highway energized a slate of low-density, slow-growth candidates, who unceremoniously dumped three of the original councilmen in the second election in 1970.
But first, Bigonger, along with Burt Brooks, Whit Cromwell, Bill Ross and Herb Warren, made a number of lasting decisions, resulting in an environment the city still enjoys today.
In a pre-annexation deal, the council compromised with a developer to permit smaller lots than allowed by zoning. They said Anaheim promised the builder even smaller sizes, so they made an adjustment to bring a large eastside area into Yorba Linda’s domain.
Also, the council accepted title to an old water company’s canal right-of-way – the genesis for today’s trail system – rather than allowing it to be ceded to adjacent property owners, as happened in Placentia.
But some residents faulted council members for not challenging Placentia on the commercial property, including a Ford dealership, on Yorba Linda’s western border, thinking a good legal case could be made for including the land and its sales tax revenue in Yorba Linda’s city limits.
However, Yorba Linda’s legal boothill is cluttered with dusty remnants of many “sure bet” lawsuits espoused by various city leaders and political wannabes over the years.
A FINAL NOTE
Much more information on this interesting era in the city’s history can be found in the reference collection at the Yorba Linda Library, 18181 Imperial Highway, which includes a nearly complete run of the weekly editions of the Yorba Linda Star on microfilm.
Also, ask to see Dennis Swift’s “Growing Graciously: An Oral History of Yorba Linda’s Municipal Incorporation,” a project of the oral history program at California State University, Fullerton, completed with help from Yorba Linda’s then library director, CarolAnn Tassios.
Swift’s interviews with Bigonger, Cromwell, Ross and Warren, as well as Bill Drake, Jim Erickson, Roy Knauft, Barbara Machado, Sid Radus and Art Simonian were conducted in 1989.
Although the participants often present conflicting information on the city’s early history and the forces that shaped the community, Yorba Linda is fortunate to have a transcript of these taped interviews, especially since five of the pioneer residents have died since they were interviewed.
And the familiar March Butz volume “Yorba Linda: Its History” is available for checkout. The always optimistic book traces the area’s history through the 1970s.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:01 AM
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