The Planning Challenge : Government and growth in the next century

Orange County soon will close the decade of the 1990s, one that has altered it profoundly. We have been shaken, rattled and rolled by the great natural and human events that marked its passage: fire, landslides, recession, bankruptcy, economic revival and political upheaval.

During a first century of incorporation, the county went through two phases. The first was an agricultural period that gave the county its name following the break from Los Angeles. The second was after World War II, when the suburbs were extended around a military and aerospace economy.

In the 1990s, a third phase in county history was inaugurated. The county emerged as a new kind of suburb, fueled by a high-technology economic engine and the aspirations of residents. They arrived to participate in what the Pepperdine University public policy analyst Joel Kotkin has called “A Post Suburban Paradise.”

The remarkable resilience of Orange County through periods of convulsion and the unflagging optimism of its residents have brought the county to a place where its new suburban centers are regarded by urban planners as models for America in the postindustrial age. However, the persistent question of whether local government entities are up to the job of overseeing growth ran all through the 1990s and will continue.

The bankruptcy and the five-year debate over the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station were transcendent events, bringing this debate over governmental stewardship into sharper outline. With a county population expected to increase by 25% to 3.2 million in the next 20 years, the pressure to manage growth well will intensify. Residents are pushing back; a recent Times Orange County poll found 66% favoring limits on growth.

Before the bankruptcy in late 1994, the decade brought ample warning that government oversight of land-use planning was riddled with cracks. It was clear by 1993 that too many in county and local government regarded their positions not as public duties but as vehicles for personal advantage. County commissioners conducted business from golf carts, with developers as passengers. Former Supervisor Don Roth left office after accepting gifts, trips, home improvements and stock from local businesspeople. County transportation officials racked up huge entertainment tabs, and tollway officials raked in generous perks and benefits.

Nor was the field day confined to county government. For years, Anaheim’s development was fueled with hefty campaign contributions. The culture of largess extended to the Santa Margarita Water District, where two managers enjoyed lavish entertainment from people with business before them and then rendered favorable recommendations on their contracts. A mayor of Brea resigned following a redevelopment scandal. The spectacle of houses and condominiums collapsing as hillsides gave way during the El Nino storms this year showed how flawed was the old notion of unquestioned assent to development.

The impetus for reform took root during the decade with movements at the county level for a code of ethics, campaign contributions limits and the banning of gifts. In cities, term limits came into fashion. If things are better, they are not that much better. By abstention, one county supervisor was rendered useless on a crucial land-use vote for pristine Trabuco Canyon just this month because of a campaign contribution.

For all the seismic jolts, it was the 1994 bankruptcy, with its profound revelations about failures in government oversight of huge amounts of money, that prompted wholesale review of county government. The debate raged for a year, and after the failure of a charter reform initiative, an uneasy atmosphere remains. It played out this year in tensions between appointed and elected officials over prerogatives.

One legacy of the bankruptcy for the quality of planning and government was the degree to which it enlisted leading citizens in the pursuit of better government. The arrival of William Popejoy as a temporary bankruptcy czar jarred the Hall of Administration. The involvement in bankruptcy recovery strategies of business leaders signaled concern whether the governmental vestiges of the agricultural past were sufficient to meet the needs of a sprawling new environment.

The second profound event of the decade has been the wrenching debate over the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station after the Marines depart next year. At stake is 4,700 acres in the heart of Orange County. In the war over a planned commercial airport, the county has been torn by community priorities.

For the airport advocates, the argument turns on keeping the county competitive in a global economy and providing regional transportation facilities. However, in the new suburban cities surrounding the base, where expectations for quality of life are high, residents have reacted to the pressures of growth by questioning old assumptions about government’s trusteeship. This has led to the antagonism between those who believe the county’s economic future lies in a bigger airport and the new suburbanites who fear overflights and attending development.

Meanwhile, the older northern communities have been undergoing a political transformation because of immigration and the Latino vote. This received national attention in the two election battles between former Rep. Robert K. Dornan and incumbent Rep. Loretta Sanchez of the 46th Congressional District.

Also, once-rural communities like Anaheim have had to reckon with gangs and deteriorating neighborhoods.

The north thus faces a set of challenges for community renewal in the next century entirely different from those at play in affluent southern and coastal regions. Dornan and Sanchez may not have been on speaking terms, but they did pass a torch. The northern tier’s Latino leadership in Congress and now in the state Assembly represents a new generation’s chance to respond to the shift from the Cold War economy to the demands of a postindustrial era.

In some ways, Orange County has been adapting 19th-century governance to meet this completely new set of circumstances for the 21st century. The next 100 years will provide a fresh occasion to resolve that county and local government must improve their performance as custodians of the public trust.