Escondido
Backers of a referendum drive intended to challenge the City Council’s approval of a controversial 265-unit residential project and 80-bed convalescent home on Bernardo Avenue have succeeded in collecting the 3,940 signatures needed to qualify the referendum for the ballot, City Clerk Jeanne Bunch said Thursday.
Supporters of the campaign had turned in nearly 7,000 signatures in the first referendum in a rare challenge to an Escondido City Council land-use decision. Bunch said the county registrar of voters office randomly examined enough of the petition signatures to be satisfied that at least the minimum number were valid.
The three-member majority of the City Council which previously had approved the project have already promised to overturn their decision, rather than put the issue to a special election, if enough signatures were gathered to contest the project.
The council is scheduled to take up the matter at its meeting March 11.
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