Slow Growth to Be Issue in Nov. 8 Vote in San Juan

The San Juan Capistrano City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to place a slow-growth initiative on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

The measure, which is similar to the proposed countywide initiative that will appear on the June ballot, passed by a 5-0 vote before a packed council chamber.

Phillip Weissburg, one of the local organizers of the Citizens for Sensible Growth, expressed disappointment that the measure had not been placed on the June ballot to coincide with the countywide initiative.

He said his group would “pursue every possible legal avenue” to qualify the initiative for the June ballot.

‘Doomsday Scenario’ Ahead

“The problem is that every developer and building trade union leader will paint every possible doomsday scenario” to defeat the initiative in the months before November, he said.

Weissburg, a medical sales consultant, said residents wanted the city to “maintain a track record of a leadership role” in controlling growth. He said San Clemente, Oceanside and Newport Beach had followed San Juan Capistrano’s lead in maintaining orderly growth.

The proposal has wide support, Weissburg said, noting that his group collected 2,040 signatures in just two weeks, more than enough needed to quality the initiative for the ballot.

The county registrar of voters had verified 1,672 signatures on the slow-growth petition that was submitted Feb. 9, which constituted 14.49% of the city’s 11,542 registered voters. To qualify the proposed measure for the June ballot, slow-growth advocates would have needed signatures equal to 15% of the city’s voters. The petition drive needed signatures from just 10% of registered voters, to qualify for the November ballot.

But the registrar’s office told The Times Tuesday that the names of voters who had registered just two days before signing the petitions may have been overlooked, raising the possibility that a second review of the petition might come up with the 59 petitions necessary to meet the 15% requirement.

Hope Placed in Review

Such a review, Weissburg said, might make it possible for the city to schedule a June vote on the measure instead of waiting until November.

Still, most people in the audience appeared to support the council’s action.

“I believe in tradition, that the American democratic process has to work,” said Al Aarps, a 20-year city resident and a strong slow-growth supporter. “Let the voices of the people be heard. This is not against growth. The term is sensible, reasonable growth.”