Orange County Election ’86 : Huntington Beach : Pro-Growth Trio Wins Council Seats Easily

The City Council retained its pro-development stance Tuesday as voters filled three of the four vacancies with proponents of city growth.

John Erskine, 35, led the crowded field of 21 candidates. A planning commissioner and executive director of the Building Industry Assn., he said he views the election as a mandate for redevelopment rather than city growth.

“The issue really was moving forward with redevelopment or not,” he said Wednesday. “What we found was that they (voters) wanted to elect council persons who would quit dilly-dallying, discussing, studying redevelopment. They do not want high-rises. They do not want another Miami Beach.

“They do want reasonable redevelopment to move forward now. I don’t think it signals support for pro-growth.”

Tom Mays, 32, a business management specialist at McDonnell Douglas Corp., finished a strong second. An enthusiastic supporter of downtown development, Mays had the highest rating in a recent pro-growth poll taken by the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

“I see my victory and the victories of John Erskine and Wes Bannister as being strong voter support for downtown development,” Mays said Wednesday.

Bannister, 49, came in an easy third. A former planning commissioner who runs his own business, Bannister supports the first phase of the city’s redevelopment plan--the $27-million Pierside Village, which was recently approved unanimously by the City Council.

Although the top three members-elect won easy victories, the race for the fourth council seat was so tight that slow-growth candidate Grace Winchell went to bed Tuesday night not knowing if she had won.

Winchell, 48, is a planning commissioner and a vehement supporter of what she considers to be “sensible growth.” “I hope the voters got what they want,” she said, referring to her three new colleagues, “but I’m not convinced that it (their victory) wasn’t just from money and their literature.”

Huntington Beach voters also elected incumbent City Atty. Gail C. Hutton to another term. Hutton, 49, is the only female city attorney in California. She beat contender Ted Johnson, 41, a county deputy district attorney, by a nearly 2-1 margin.