Supervisor Derry to pay for San Bernardino annexation challenge

By Andrew Edwards on January 20, 2010 7:04 PM

A note: Supervisor Neil Derry opposed Lafco's insistence that San Bernardino annex county islands as a condition of annexing the Arrowhead Springs Area.

Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO - Third District Supervisor Neil Derry announced Wednesday that his office will pay the $6,600 cost of challenging a government panel's power to merge six county islands into the city of San Bernardino.

The basis of the challenge is whether a government panel called the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission, also known as Lafco, correctly followed state laws that allow cities to annex unincorporated territory without a popular vote.

State law allows Lafco and similar panels to approve annexations without elections under certain conditions, one of which is a requirement that islands have less than 150 acres of territory.

Susan Hulse, who filed paperwork asking Lafco to reverse its November approvals of the annexations, lives in a 130-acre area that is contiguous with a 61-acre area. She thinks Lafco officials have employed a piecemeal strategy to avoid the ballot box.

"I feel strongly that the island annexation policy ... violates the rights of landowners and voters," Hulse said during a Tuesday meeting of Lafco's board of directors.

Hulse also asked Lafco to waive the $6,600 in fees, but that request was rendered moot after Derry, a member of Lafco's board, announced that he would foot the bill from his office's discretionary budget.

Derry did not elaborate on his decision while board members considered Hulse's request, but he has previously said that he questions whether Lafco officials are in strict compliance with state law.

Derry was not present during the November meeting when his colleagues approved the annexations. His decision - which took Hulse by surprise - clears the way for that vote to be reconsidered in February.

Lafco officials tied the island annexations to San Bernardino's effort to annex the Arrowhead Springs area.

That area, which includes Arrowhead Springs Hotel, is considered to be a prime opportunity for upscale development. Lafco officials judged that San Bernardino officials should take responsibility for governing the county islands in exchange for adding prime real estate.

Hulse's request would not reverse the Arrowhead Springs annexation.