Turf War Looms Between Los Alamitos and Rossmoor

As Los Alamios moves forward with plans to annex Rossmoor’s only commercial center, Rossmoor is moving forward with plans to fight the move.

Last week the Rossmoor Community Services District took an official stance against the annexation of the Rossmoor Shopping Village. At the same time, Los Alamitos officials plan to hold a townhall meeting to seek community input about the annexation. It’s likely that property owners within the proposed annexation area will find themselves in the middle of a tug-of-war as Rossmoor and Los Alamitos leaders attempt to pull them in opposing directions.

Rossmoor’s Board of Directors recently relocated the Rossmoor sheriff’s deputies’ office from Rush Park to Rossmoor Park, in part, to better serve the apartments and businesses within the Rossmoor Shopping Village

”We are certainly going to do our best to convince them to want to stay with us,” said Rossmoor Community Services district General Manager Henry Taboada. “We are doing our best to let people know what is at stake, the pros and the cons. There are certain advantages to being unincorporated”

Taboada predicts that the property owners within the Rossmoor Shopping Village could see a utility tax increase as well as an increase in costs for service.

“Going to Los Al is not a piece of cake,” said Taboada. “There are strings attached.”

Rossmoor is fighting annexation from multiple fronts. The RCSD is currently doing a cost and revenue analysis of switching animal control services from Orange County to the City of Long Beach. The analysis will help the board apply for authority over animal control services, the first of multiple latent powers that Rossmoor officials hope to adopt to strengthen the community’s independence and it’s hand against annexation.

Additionally, last week the board officially adopted the stance that it “strongly opposes any initiative to annex the Rossmoor Shopping Village and opposes the recent actions by the City of Los Alamitos in regard to this matter.   The Board hereby requests that all such actions by the City of Los Alamitos cease until the Latent Powers matter is heard and acted upon by (the Local Agency Formation Commission).”   

However, Los Alamitos officials have no intention of ceasing efforts to annex the Rossmoor Shopping Village. The city will make its case to the Rossmoor Village Property owners as well, said City Manager Jeff Stewart. However, the city’s next step will be a townhall meeting to solicit input from the community on the proposed annexation before the City Council considers the matter. Stewart said he plans to discuss the townhall meeting with the City Council to develop a date for the meeting and a timeline for the process.

There are seven people and entities that own land within the commercial center, apartment and church properties. If the City Council votes to annex the land, the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission could approve the annexation without a vote of the residents or property owners. It would only go to a vote if 25 to 50 percent of the property owners or registered voters formally protest the annexation, said Stewart.

The Los Alamitos Planning Commission recently voted 4-2 in favor of a zoning map for the southwest corner of Los Alamitos Boulevard and Katella Avenue, a commercial property in Rossmoor. Though not technically part of an annexation, the vote paves the way for Los Alamitos to take control of the corner, which includes The Original Fish Company, a car wash, Boot Barn, a church and an apartment complex.

It’s the only commercial property in Rossmoor, generating about $250,000 a year in tax revenue for county coffers.