Irvine : Initiative Would Require Vote on Freeway Funding

An initiative that would require a citywide vote before city-collected fees could be used to help pay for new freeways has qualified for the November ballot, Irvine city officials said Friday.

According to Assistant City Clerk Barbara Paliska, 8,701 out of the 10,100 signatures on the petition submitted to the city June 24 were found to be those of registered Irvine voters.

That figure represents about 19% of Irvine’s 45,360 registered voters, and only 15% is needed to call a special election on the matter.

Backers of the initiative say they want the issue of whether Irvine should help pay for three proposed freeways to be decided by the voters, because they would be the ones that would ultimately have to foot the bill.

However, any vote in November would not actually decide the funding issue itself but would instead mandate an ordinance that would require voter approval before Irvine could participate in a proposed joint-powers agreement with the county under which certain cities would fund freeway corridors through development fees.

The City Council will be presented with the validated petition by the city clerk at its July 30 meeting. At that time, the council could preclude a November vote altogether by directing the city attorney to draft an ordinance along the lines of the petition, then adopting the ordinance at a later date.

Councilman Larry Agran, who helped to draft the initiative, said Friday he plans to introduce a motion calling for council approval of a law requiring citizen approval of freeway funding.

“I certainly intend to use the validated signatures as an argument for getting on with it and having the council adopt the ordinance as the law of the city,” Agran said. “I as a council member, I would not want to defy that kind of sentiment on the part of the electorate.”

If the five-member council failed to approve the ordinance, it will automatically go on the November ballot.