Oceanside

Abandoning an effort to persuade the Oceanside City Council to adopt an annual cap on growth, a group of residents announced plans Wednesday to put a slow-growth initiative on the ballot.

Melba Bishop, a leader of the slow-growth coalition, said the group decided to pursue the ballot initiative largely because it appeared no one on the council supported the growth cap idea. In addition, group members feel the voter-approved initiative could better withstand legal challenges than a growth cap simply approved by the council, Bishop said.

The organization will try to gather 6,000 signatures to qualify the slow-growth initiative for the ballot. Although the group tentatively plans to put the initiative on the November ballot, it may wait until a subsequent election, Bishop said. “We’re more interested in getting a good ballot proposition prepared than meeting an arbitrary deadline,” she said.

The plan proposes a ceiling of 1,200 units in 1987 and 1,000 for each year thereafter through 1996. The cap, however, would not apply to construction in the city’s downtown redevelopment area.