COSTA MESA UNPLUGGED:Costa Mesa never really had leverage

In war, the victors cart home the spoils.

And in the bloodless turf spat between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach over West Santa Ana Heights and Banning Ranch, Newport Beach has emerged victorious. Again.

Wednesday, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) squired the 83-acre West Santa Ana Heights community into the lukewarm embrace of Newport Beach.

The panel also deferred for another half year any verdict on which city will hold sway over Banning Ranch.

So then, the battlefield topography looks like this: Costa Mesa is 83 acres smaller, Newport Beach is 83 acres bigger and whatever designs “Goat Hill” had to conquer the 357 acres of Banning Ranch is probably up in smoke, too.

None of this should shatter the planet with surprise. Costa Mesa never really had any leverage to preserve the global-resolution link to the West Santa Ana Heights/Banning Ranch annexation issues, and Newport Beach will never entertain uprooting its flag from Banning Ranch.

But the dynamics of the fight that has led to the inevitable have been fascinating.

Take, for instance, West Santa Ana Heights. Here, you have a group of residents who have consistently spurned the love of their natural parents (Costa Mesa) for the tepid affections of their new foster parents (Newport Beach).

You shouldn’t have to ask why. The denizens of this small bit of unincorporated county land understand the property-value algebra of a Newport Beach zip code.

Now, some in the community deny the booty motive. They offer that their preference for Newport Beach is more a reaction to Costa Mesa’s long history of dawdling where the potential expansion of John Wayne Airport is concerned.

Probably both are true. But whatever the reason, they have long wanted a new mommy and daddy. And now they have it in Newport Beach.

Not that the Harbor City has ever wanted them, though. Newport Beach began its annexation courtship of West Santa Ana Heights only after LAFCO asked it to in 2002. Think of it as a shotgun adoption of sorts.

So why did Newport Beach agree to take in the freckled redheads? Money. Tens of millions of county redevelopment agency dollars that are bankrolling a handsome list of improvements that will ultimately benefit Newport Beach.

The projects include a new fire station, the under-grounding of utilities and a new park.

On the Costa Mesa side of the dispute, relinquishing West Santa Ana Heights has never been in doubt.

After all, West Santa Ana Heights wants nothing to do with Costa Mesa, and the community represents only approximately $80,000 in property and sales tax revenues, which is less than one-tenth of a percent of Costa Mesa’s budget.

But Costa Mesa wanted something in return, which is why it convinced the LAFCO staff last year to link the West Santa Ana Heights annexation with its desire to break Newport Beach’s stranglehold on Banning Ranch.

The strategy could only work if Newport Beach genuinely desired to adopt West Santa Ana Heights and only if it was willing to negotiate giving up some portion of Banning Ranch. It wanted neither, save for millions of dollars of county redevelopment projects it would inherit with West Santa Ana Heights.

So Newport Beach pretended to play ball for a while. It did that by meeting with Costa Mesa and LAFCO to see what might be worked out. But then the county released the redevelopment kitty to begin the trove of redevelopment projects before LAFCO had decided on West Santa Ana Heights. When it did that, the incentive for Newport Beach to play ball evaporated.

Where all this leaves Costa Mesa’s fading wish to bring part of Banning Ranch into its sphere of influence isn’t quite settled. That’s because the owner of Banning Ranch — Aera Energy — needs certain approvals from Costa Mesa to fulfill its plan to develop a residential community on a portion of Banning Ranch.

Certainly, if the company decides to process its project application through Newport Beach, it needs that city, too.

Aera may well hold the key to breaking the impasse between Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

How? By processing its Banning Ranch project application through the county.

Do that, and Newport Beach and Costa Mesa will suddenly become best friends.