City of Lawndale v. City of Torrance

FOX, P. J.

This action arises from intercity competition for the right to annex uninhabited territory. The city of Lawndale and the city of Torrance are both attempting to annex Alondra Park, which is a regional park owned by the county of Los Angeles. These annexation attempts were commenced by Lawndale’s submitting two annexation proposals to the Boundary Commission of Los Angeles County, each of which included all the park and some other territory. They were submitted in May 1960, and entitled “Lawndale An

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nexations No. 2 and No. 3.” On June 14, 1960, Torrance brought a mandamus proceeding in an attempt to prevent the processing of these boundary descriptions through the boundary commission. The superior court refused to issue an alternative writ, and nothing further was done with respect to these two annexation proposals.

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Following is a summary of the pertinent events relative to the current litigation: (1) On June 6, 1960, the City Council of Torrance adopted Resolution Number 3981 initiating proceedings to annex the territory of county-owned Alondra Park on its own motion, pursuant to section 35310 [Gov. Code] of the Uninhabited Annexation Act of 1939, and directed that a written description of the proposed annexation be filed with the secretary of the Boundary Commission of Los Angeles County. Prior to this time Torrance had not submitted any proposed boundary for- this annexation to the boundary commission, as required by section 35002 of the Government Code. (2) On June 10, 1960, Lawndale, pursuant to council resolution, filed the proposed boundaries of Annexation Number 4 with the Boundary Commission of the County. The description of the area proposed to be annexed covered the exact boundaries of the county-owned Alondra Park. (3) On June 15, the boundary commission approved the boundaries of Lawndale’s proposed Annexation Number 4. (4) On June 20, Lawndale adopted Resolution Number 86, commencing annexation proceedings covering the area represented by the proposed Annexation Number 4. (5) On June 22, the boundary commission approved boundaries for the proposed Torrance annexation of the territory described in its Resolution Number 3981, namely Alondra Park, the same territory that Lawndale is attempting to annex.

Section 35002, Government Code, provides in