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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Menifee Councilwoman Darcy Kuenzi and misstated the title of Sun City Civic Association General Manager Jim Rush.
The retirement community of Sun City, part of the new city of Menifee for three years, will turn 50 next year.
Community leaders are planning a huge celebration, with parties and other events to take up most of June. Residents, who enjoy a slower lifestyle than their mostly younger neighbors in “New Menifee” subdivisions, want to have fun but also want to send a message: Sun City hasn’t gone away.
“A lot of residents want to make sure the city knows we are a very powerful group of people out here,” said Jim Rush, general manager of the Sun City Civic Association.
A 55-and-older rule is strictly enforced in the Sun City “core,” a community of nearly 5,000 tidy, ranch-style, single-family homes. The easy pace of life, marked by the golf carts many residents use to make their way around town, stands in contrast to the hustle of the younger families shuttling kids to school and commuting to San Diego and Orange County from newly built housing developments elsewhere in Menifee.
“We are a world apart,” Sun City resident Ruth Goulet said.
Independent and governed by a homeowners association for decades, Sun City was absorbed by Menifee in 2008 when voters approved cityhood, creating a city of 77,000 that straddles Interstate 215.
Many saw cityhood as another step in the march toward having their small-town retirement community crowded out by Menifee, where officials are eager to establish the new city’s identity. They fear the old Sun City is getting lost as fast as strip malls and rooftops have risen in a city hungry for new amenities and development dollars.
Greg August is a retired military pilot and one of the few dozen Sun City residents who have become amateur government watchdogs who keep highly critical eyes trained on Menifee’s new government. August said he watches lots of Fox News and said he knew that more politicians would be bad news.
“I don’t need any more of these politicians in my life — I’m sick of it,” August said. “I see it all day long on TV and I don’t need it.”
The list of grievances is long and varied: Menifee officials, eager to brand their new city, irked some residents by lobbying to replace Sun City with the Menifee name. City officials fought an effort to create a system that would guarantee Sun City a seat on the council. And in the minds of critics, they’ve prioritized rapid development over sensible planning.
As general manager of the civic association, a position that makes him like Sun City’s city manager, Rush spends a lot of time mediating between upset members of his community and the city of Menifee. A Sun City resident himself, Rush said he thinks Menifee officials are doing a fine job and honestly try to respond to the community’s needs.
Recently, work has started to beautify some center dividers in main roads, a major gripe for a few years, he said.
Councilwoman Darcy Kuenzi downplayed the unrest in Sun City, saying it was a disgruntled few who complained loudly out of “fear and misunderstanding.” Most residents appreciate the benefits of cityhood, including planned improvements to sewers and new developments, she said.
“Becoming a city was about improving the quality of life and improving the level of services, and I think we’ve done that,” Kuenzi said.
Haven for retirees
Sun City was built is 1962 as a retirement destination. It was developer Del Webb’s second Sun City, built two years after the original in Arizona. Dozens of other Sun Citys now dot the western U.S., including Palm Desert.
Sun City residents favored cityhood, but at a lower rate than the rest of the city. Overall, Menifee’s incorporation was approved by 62 percent of voters. Less than 56 percent in Sun City voted to create the city.
Later, many Sun City residents bristled when freeway signs were relabeled to direct drivers to Menifee, not Sun City, and when officials asked the post office to replace “Sun City” and other communities with “Menifee” in official addresses. A suggestion by a former council member that the Sun City post office be renamed the Menifee post office, also drew criticism.
Rush said the post office idea is dead and he’s lobbying Caltrans to have the freeway signs changed back.
Growing pains
But the weakening of the Sun City name isn’t the only gripe. Incorporation annoyed Sun City residents like Goulet, who saw it as another move toward over-development in the area.
The land surrounding Sun City, once mostly rural, is now populated by tract homes. Shopping centers have followed, and more are on the way. Traffic-choked intersections near the 215 freeway make getting around town a chore.
Goulet said incorporation was a way for developers and their allies in county government to pave the way for more homes, shopping centers and big-box stores. More shopping means more sales taxes to pay for city services.
Having a couple of more restaurants would be nice, Goulet conceded, but for the most part, development is just a hassle. Goulet takes the freeway to City Hall because, she said, bumper-to-bumper traffic backs up intersections along the way.
When Walmart wanted to build in Menifee, many residents loudly urged the council to reject the project. In the end, Walmart got enough signatures on a petition to put the matter to voters, who last year approved the new superstore.
“I had four Walmarts within five miles of me,” Goulet said. “Did I really need five?”
Others are happy with more development. Carmelita Rood, a Sun City resident since 1978 who’s been active with the Chamber of Commerce, said she appreciated the city and the growth officials want to bring. Most of her neighbors were positive about Menifee, and she tries to avoid listening to those who are negative, she said.
“Like anything that is new, there are going to be mistakes. Good and bad,” Rood, 84, said. “But on the whole they (the City Council) have resolved a lot of the bad.”
Political battles
The hard feelings manifest themselves at Menifee City Council meetings, where a small, vocal group of Sun City residents have made themselves a presence.
“They just beat this poor council to death,” Rush said.
During a not atypical event in November, August took to the council podium to demand Kuenzi be formally reprimanded for pushing to replace the city’s attorney without involving other council members. Kuenzi swiveled her chair around to face the back wall while he spoke.
One of the most contentious issues in Menifee’s young history has been council voting districts. Sun City residents pushed for voting districts, which would guarantee the community representation on the council. Now, none of the five council members, elected from across the city, are from the retirement community.
Sun City’s Anne Pica, who led an effort to get a district initiative on the ballot, said the city isn’t responsive to residents. The only time they’re not ignored, she said, is when they’re insulted.
“They’re more like dictators up there, thinking that we don’t have a right to complain about things going on in the city,” Pica said. “These are my tax dollars and I gripe about it because I don’t think they’re doing a very good job of it.”