LAKE FOREST

A committee to preserve the community identities of Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills will start meeting next month, city officials said.

Last month, the City Council approved the city’s application to annex the two communities. Some of the communities’ residents oppose joining Lake Forest, fearing the unincorporated areas will lose identity.

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission could consider the city’s request by February, said City Councilman Peter Herzog, who is also a commissioner.

Committee members say Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills should keep their names and identities as Corona del Mar did when it became part of Newport Beach.

“We were Foothill Ranch first and we continue to be Foothill Ranch,” resident Davida Hopkins-Parham said. “We don’t want to see Lake Forest signs plastered up all over the place.”