Irvine : Council to Take Up Corridor Referendum
Because of the holiday season, the City Council has canceled its Tuesday and Dec. 24 evening sessions, and will meet instead on Dec. 17.
The council is expected at that meeting to take up the referendum action recently launched by more than 6,600 Irvine residents who are trying to overturn an ordinance requiring developers to pay fees for construction of three new freeway corridors.
The petition signatures are expected to be certified by the Orange County registrar of voters by the time the council meets, City Clerk Nancy Lacey said. If the petitions have at least 4,536 valid signatures, the seven-member council must either rescind the ordinance or schedule an election on the controversial proposal.
The fees, which would be raised in Irvine and nine other cities through assessments on new homes and commercial development, would amount to nearly half of the estimated $940 million needed to build new freeways in the San Joaquin Hills, Foothill and Eastern transportation corridors.
Although the council approved the fee measure Oct. 22, the city is legally barred from collecting those fees until the referendum issue is resolved.
The council meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Irvine Civic Center, 17200 Jamboree Road.
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