Seal Beach : Council Certifies Vote Approving Development

After a bitter debate, the City Council by a 3-2 vote has certified the results of last week’s special election in which a majority of voters approved a Bixby Ranch Co. development.

Meanwhile, Councilman Victor Grgas has requested investigations by the Orange County district attorney, the Orange County Grand Jury and the state Fair Political Practices Commission of what he termed “a possible violation of the Elections Code.”

Grgas’ charge and much of the acrimonious election aftermath is the result of a mailer printed on City Council stationery that urged residents to vote for the Bixby development. The mailer was signed by Mayor Oscar Brownell and Councilwomen Joyce Risner and Edna Wilson.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Grgas and Councilman Frank Clift said the mailer was purposely misleading and questioned their colleagues’ ethics.

“To certify this election is to give official sanction to your own participation in the contamination of the democratic process,” Clift scolded his three council opponents, saying they were “morally bound” to disqualify themselves.

Wilson responded, “I can hold my head up.”

Risner said continued opposition to the Bixby project was “sour grapes,” and if opponents didn’t like the election results, they should “take it to court.”

Before the vote, several opponents of the Bixby project complained that Leisure World was inaccessible to people disseminating political information. Some contended that the many clubs and organizations inside the retirement community’s walls were off limits to them, while Bixby supporters were invited to speak.

By denying access to outsiders who cannot afford expensive political mailers, the management of Leisure World is “eliminating (residents’) freedom of choice,” Grgas argued.

Leisure World, with about one-third of the city’s population, supplied the overwhelming majority of voters favoring the Bixby project.

The project has long been a source of friction in the community. Last year, the Planning Commission rejected it and the City Council approved it. Opponents then gathered enough signatures to prompt the special election.

Upon completion, the project will consist of three four-story office buildings and two restaurants on an 18-acre triangular site bordered by the San Diego Freeway, Seal Beach Boulevard and a wall separating it from the Rossmoor community.

Opponents argue that it will increase traffic congestion and invade the privacy of some Rossmoor backyards. In addition, the project site is near the end of a Los Alamitos Air Station runway in what opponents contend is a potential aircraft accident zone.