Temecula Annexation

Temecula officials have experienced frustration after frustration as a boundary-setting panel denied the city's plan to annex nearly 4,500 acres of mostly undeveloped land to its southwest. This changed Thursday, however, when it was finally approved by the board, allowing the city of 105,000 to have jurisdiction over a hill-covered region populated by fewer than 20 people.

The land west of Interstate 15, which had been unincorporated up until now, reaches from the city's southwest boundary to the San Diego County line. Nearly all the land consists of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, an outdoor research area managed by San Diego State University. The annexation area neighbors the proposed 414-acre site of Liberty Quarry, the idea of which has divided the community. There are some who fear it will wreck the environment while others say it will create high-paying jobs.

The commission (which consists of a mix of Riverside County supervisors, local elected officials and a private citizen) supports the annexation but also required the city to submit within 90 days an application to remove a portion of land that's currently within Temecula's sphere of influence. The sphere shows areas that could one day be annexed by a city. The portion in question includes land slated to become part of the quarry, and quarry developer Granite Construction asked for the land's removal from the sphere, which the city has reported they are not oppsed to.

The commission waived the application fee to change the sphere and city officials have said the likely minimal cost of revising sphere boundaries was worth it if the annexation was approved.