Local News in Brief : San Fernando Petitions Seek Land-Sale Curbs

A coalition of San Fernando residents filed a 1,300-signature initiative petition Wednesday to prevent the City Council from selling, leasing or exchanging any city-owned land without voter approval.

Petition organizer Beverly Di Tomaso said that, although no pending City Council action prompted the petition drive, the goal of the initiative is to “give voters the right to decide how city property should be used.”

“We are a tiny city,” Di Tomaso said. “Every piece of property is crucial. We don’t want to lose any of it because of a bad council decision.”

Di Tomaso, who unsuccessfully ran for City Council in 1986, was a leader in a smaller-scale initiative drive that year that received overwhelming voter approval. That initiative prevents the sale, lease or exchange of a particular piece of Civic Center property without voter consent. It was prompted by a controversial council move that involved a Civic Center land swap with Los Angeles County to build a new police station.

City Administrator Donald E. Penman said that, because there are no city land sales or changes in the works for any of the city’s 20 parcels, the effect of the initiative, if approved, is unknown.

If the Los Angeles County registrar of voters verifies that 10% of the city’s 6,001 voteres signed the petition, the City Council must either pass an ordinance encompassing the petition’s provisions or place the issue on the next municipal ballot, which would be in 1988. If the verified signatures represent at least 15% of voters, the council must either pass an ordinance or call a special election within 88 to 120 days.