Feature Stories
An Island Village In So Very Many Ways
by Alma Bahman
In a meeting July 6, City Council approved the recommendation from the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission regarding changes to the shared border between Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
Illogical boundary lines have caused confusion in municipal services, deliveries and duplication of service in the past, so OC LAFCO conducted a study in 2008 examining the zig-zag OC/LA borderline, recommending adjustments to the border. Affected cities include Long Beach, Seal Beach and Los Alamitos.
In November 2009, Long Beach City Council held a workshop to consider LAFCO’s results. Since then, City Council has been “working cooperatively with the affected cities and counties to determine which areas we could recommend to better align with delivery services and to ensure there’s fiscal neutrality as well,” Reggie Harrison, deputy city manager and interim director of development services, said at the meeting.
One of the affected areas along this border is Island Village, a 182-unit Long Beach neighborhood mostly surrounded by Seal Beach. Residents have considered requesting an annex to Seal Beach.
In August 2009, Island Village residents met in their community clubhouse to discuss this very issue. A nine-person committee of Island Village residents, headed by Cypress City Manager and former Seal Beach City Manager John Bahorski, found that the vast majority was in favor of changing cities.
“We worked real hard with the community,” Bahorski said. “There is a general affinity to Seal Beach.”
However, neither Island Village nor any other residential areas were included within any of the five separate areas of proposed boundary adjustment.
“Basically, the city of Long Beach said, ‘Hey look, we want you to stay, there are fiscal implications,’ and things like that,” Bahorski said. “But there are still some issues we’d like to address.”
Some residents are concerned about the lack of pedestrian modes to nearby shopping centers and Pacific Coast Highway. In general, Island Village’s concerns focus around being “cut off” from its city.
“We can toss a softball and hit the Seal Beach police stations,” Bahorski said.
Bahorski has yet to know which direction the campaign is going now, but the Homeowner’s Association has taken the lead on Island Village’s efforts.
“We literally are an island,” Bahorski said. “Make us really feel like a part of Long Beach. You can’t just say the words, ‘We love you, we want you to stay.’”
The cities of Los Alamitos and Seal Beach, followed by LA and Orange County boards of supervisors must agree to the proposed boundaries before any changes actually take place.
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