Business Coalition Counterattacks Growth Measure

The county business community launched a campaign to defeat the slow-growth initiative Monday, saying the anti-initiative effort will develop grass-roots support after the public is made aware of the “disaster” the measure would cause.

At a press conference, the organizers of Citizens for Traffic Solutions acknowledged that they represented the interests of county businesses. And they claimed support from two groups that denied formally endorsing their effort.

“From all reports, the impact of this measure on Orange County will be just devastating,” said John R. Simon, a Newport Beach attorney and treasurer of the anti-initiative group. “I firmly believe that once county residents become aware of its true impacts . . . they will oppose it.”

The Board of Supervisors will discuss the slow-growth initiative at its meeting today and is expected to decide whether to certify it for the June ballot, pass it as an ordinance or order a 45-day study of the measure that would delay a vote.

Foes Urge Board to Delay

Simon called on the supervisors to order the 45-day study and delay putting the measure on the ballot until November so his group will have more time to campaign about what he called its negative effects.

But Monday it appeared that most of the supervisors favored placing the initiative on the June ballot.

The supervisors were also scheduled to consider a growth measure of their own at today’s meeting that would tie future development to efforts to restrict traffic congestion and the availability of public facilities such as police and fire stations.

Because all of the supervisors oppose the initiative, they have been searching for a mechanism to avoid its adoption. Board Chairman Harriett M. Wieder said the board’s proposed growth measure is partly an effort to demonstrate that the county is taking steps to relieve congestion.

The plan is partly modeled after the Foothill Circulation Phasing Plan, which will generate nearly $250 million in developer contributions for new roads, mainly in Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez’s 3rd District.

Like the foothill area, the county’s growth plan would require developers to pay before homes are built for enough roads to keep traffic flowing. They would also have to pay for libraries, child care, Sheriff’s Department stations and fire departments adequate for the increased population. And there are provisions for protecting trees and park space.

The growth plan is expected to be adopted “in concept” by the board today, then be submitted to a public review process, during which sponsors of the slow-growth initiative would be invited to comment.

Besides the anti-initiative campaign started Monday, the Orange County Building Industry Assn. is expected to file a lawsuit against the measure this week in a bid to keep it off the June ballot.

Simon said his group has nothing to do with the lawsuit and is not being supported by the Building Industry Assn.

As did the supervisors, Simon complained that the initiative does not include a funding mechanism to build roads the county already needs. He also said it would jeopardize up to 250,000 jobs and reduce the county’s tax base.

The group has hired a San Francisco public relations firm, McGuire Barnes Inc. Simon said it has also conducted focus groups on the growth issue that have shown a public dislike for developers and a belief that the responsibility for congestion problems falls on the supervisors.