Longtime Residents Hope for Rosemont-Rancho Cordova Annexation (Video)

Two longtime Rosemont residents are hoping to have their community absorbed into a nearby city, but in a way they say would be good for the community.

Chris Stoots and Doris Fodge believe Rosemont and other small nearby neighborhoods should be annexed by the city of Rancho Cordova to ensure they can’t merge with the city of Sacramento and to escape the pain of repeated county budget cuts.

Stoots, citing Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s November remarks that the city should consolidate with all of the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County, said he wants to make sure Rosemont isn’t swallowed by such a merger.

“I think [annexation with Rancho Cordova would] be good for my community and the city of Rancho Cordova,” Stoots said. “Rosemont wouldn’t have any benefit being in the city of Sacramento.”

Stoots and Fodge have been doing a small amount of grassroots outreach, and Stoots recently sat down with Rancho Cordova officials to discuss the plan.

Neither Sacramento nor Rancho Cordova have made any official moves toward annexing Rosemont, but Scott Mende, Sacramento’s New Growth and Infill Manager, said Rosemont is a part of Sacramento’s Sphere of Influence, the area of possible future growth, and is “on [Sacramento’s] distant radar.”

But Mende also said Rosemont, a largely residential area, might not bring in enough tax revenue on its own to make it worth the extra cost to provide services to the area.

Meanwhile, Rancho Cordova officials say Rosemont residents would benefit from becoming a part of their city.

“We’ve been a city for seven-and-a-half years and I feel like we have a very good record of enhancing the level of services to the community since we’ve incorporated,” said Joe Chinn, Rancho Cordova’s assistant city manager.

Chinn also said annexation would bring Rosemont residents more elected officials to hear their concerns.

“The area [of Rosemont] is currently represented by one of five county supervisors,” he said. “If they were annexed to the city, the area would be represented by five council members.”

But he stressed Rancho Cordova wouldn’t move forward on any kind of annexation proposal without a strong show of support from Rosemont residents.

A formal application to annex Rosemont would have to first be approved by the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo), but could be filed by the city council of either Sacramento or Rancho Cordova, or by a petition of five percent of affected residents.

“Generally, in the annexation itself … [it] doesn’t require an election unless there’s a protest [by a petition],” said Peter Brundage, executive officer of Sacramento LAFCo.

Stoots said he’s seen a mainly positive reaction from people he’s talked to about a possible annexation by Rancho Cordova, and was able to collect about a dozen signatures on a petition in one day and on one street. But Stoots has lived in Rosemont since 1977 and said old stigmas about Rancho Cordova as a crime-ridden, low-income military neighborhood persist among some longtime residents.

“That’s all changing, but old memories die hard,” he said.

Fodge, who has lived in Rosemont since 1987, agreed, saying most of the people opposed to annexation have lived in Rosemont for many years.

“I think there was a big distinction between living in Rancho Cordova and Rosemont,” Fodge said about her early years in the area, adding that derogatory nicknames for that city were often thrown around. “I never heard Rancho Cordova called Rancho Cordova. I think that whole dynamic has changed.”

Terry Dugan, vice president of the , said that group doesn’t have a formal position on annexation, but would welcome a conversation with Stoots and Fodge.

Related reading:

• Sacramento Bee: "Foon Rhee: City, county can be partners in hard times"
• Sacramento Press: "Mayor to discuss Arden Arcade annexation"
• Sacramento Bee: "Metro Chamber interested in consolidation, to a point"
• Sacramento Bee: "Sacramento mayor wants to explore city, county merger"
• Sacramento Bee: "Questions, answers about idea of Sacramento city-county consolidation"

Correction: An early version of this story overstated the opinions of Stoots and Fodge, who don't hope Rosemont would cease to exist as a neighborhood and a community if it were annexed by Rancho Cordova. Rosemont Patch regrets the error.