Local News in Brief : Huntington Beach : Traffic Control Issue Put on November Ballot

Voters will decide the future pace of the city’s development through a traffic control initiative on the November ballot.

Rather than adopt as a city ordinance the Citizens’ Sensible Growth and Traffic Control Initiative--which is nearly identical to a measure that will be on the countywide ballot in June--the City Council voted Monday night to let voters make the decision.

The initiative would bar major construction projects that would reduce average traffic speeds below certain specified levels. It also would set minimum response times for emergency vehicles and new standards for flood control and park systems.

Mayor John Erskine, executive director of the Building Industry Assn.’s Orange County chapter, which launched a court battle last week to keep the countywide measure off the June ballot, abstained from discussing or voting on the measure.

Erskine stressed that it had been determined it would not have been a conflict of interest for him to vote on the initiative. He explained that he abstained from voting to avoid “the image” of a conflict.

Council members Ruth Finley, Peter Green and Grace Winchell initially favored “biting the bullet,” as Winchell put it, and adopting the ordinance Monday night.

But Mayor Pro Tem Tom Mays and councilmen Jack Kelly and Wes Bannister supported placing the city measure on the November ballot. All three were elected on pro-development platforms. Their three votes prevailed when Councilwoman Winchell abstained.