Voters Get Their Shot This Week in the Slow-Growth Battle of Seal Beach

Seal Beach has struggled for years with the nagging question of how to protect its limited open space, parks and the greenbelt that runs through the middle of that beach community.

The emotional issue has divided some of its 27,000 residents and spawned animosity between some voters and city officials.

But on Tuesday, after years of debate and legal challenges, the voters of Seal Beach will get the final say about what will be done.

They will vote on a sweeping slow-growth proposal that would literally strip the elected members of the City Council of their authority to approve development on land that is designated open space.

Although different from the countywide Citizens Sensible Growth and Traffic Control Initiative, Seal Beach’s Preservation and Open Spaces Initiative has a potent slow-growth message. The measure is called the Spring initiative, named after the group that wrote it.

“We love Seal Beach. It’s small, its quaint, it’s still a family town,” said psychologist Michelle Brendel, a supporter of the measure. “We want to lock on to that. We want to hang on to the greenbelt in town. We don’t want to look like Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Newport Beach. Leave us alone.”

Directly to Voters

If the measure wins approval, land-use decisions on designated open spaces in Seal Beach would go directly to the voters. The go-ahead on projects involving public or quasi-public land would require a two-thirds vote, rather than a simple majority.

Members of the City Council and city agencies oppose the initiative, charging that many of its codes are illegal because they conflict with the city charter and state law. City officials argue that the measure works against protecting the quality of life because it strips the city of its powers to update buildings to current safety codes.

A main point of contention of the initiative is the rezoning of the Zoeter School site for open spaces and parks. The city is buying a portion of the site from Los Alamitos Unified School District under a 20-year purchase agreement. According to some officials, the city is is committed to leasing that portion to developers.

City Manager Robert Nelson said Seal Beach stands to lose up to $29 million in revenue over the next 55 years if the initiative passes and the Zoeter area is rezoned. Nelson said he expects legal problems over the Zoeter School site and suits against the school district and city if the initiative is approved.

His predictions were echoed by those of Edward Knight, director of developmental services for the city.

‘Parkland in Perpetuity’

Knight said the stipulation that the Zoeter parcel remain “parkland in perpetuity” is “one of the most glaring problems with the initiative.” It would, he said, conflict with provisions of state law under which the city acquired the surplus school property.

But attorney Bruce Stark, Brendel’s husband, replied: “The city is concerned because we are going to tie their hands, and that’s what we want to do. We don’t trust them.”

He said the city has allowed its “developer friends” variances to build higher than the 35-foot limit in the city. The initiative simply restates the limit with the added words “with no exceptions,” Stark said.

The ballot measure stipulates that any property listed in the measure itself or in the city’s general plan as parkland, open space, public land or “quasi-public land” cannot be used for another purpose without approval of two-thirds of the voters in a Seal Beach general or special election. Quasi-public land, according to some initiative supporters, may include such things as golf courses.

The initiative also prohibits any exemptions from city requirements for adequate parking for new businesses; prohibits the removal of any trees without the approval of a forestry expert, and prohibits the sale of liquor at the restaurant on the city pier.

A controversial part of the initiative would allow property owners to replace their structures “in kind” if they are destroyed by natural disaster, rather than upgrading them to current zoning standards. Currently, owners must upgrade property to current zoning if more than 50% of the structure is destroyed.

“The important thing to remember here is that the initiative is basically addressing those who want to increase density or change zoning,” said Brent Mathews, a Spring supporter. “I mean, we are talking about locking in . . . the initiative the zoning of park space that already exists.”

According to literature supporting the initiative, only 2% of the land in Seal Beach is zoned for open space. Of Orange County’s 26 cities, only Seal Beach and Stanton have so little space so zoned, initiative proponents say.

“We have a City Council that’s devoted to high-rise, high density,” said Brendel, a Spring member. “Mayor (Edna) Wilson says we have room to grow. Where?”

Council member Joyce Risner argued that the initiative “limits representative government.” If any project on public land required approval by two-thirds of the voters, opponents would need only 34%--and that 34% would control development, she said.

Proponents of the initiative began to gather signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot in 1986, but the city rejected the 2,000 signatures, citing a series of errors by the petitioners. The city’s decision was upheld by Superior Court Judge Harmon G. Scoville.

Rather than challenge the ruling, the group began gathering new signatures to qualify the initiative. Spring collected 3,414 signatures, and the county registrar certified more than was needed--10% of the city’s registered voters--to qualify the measure for the ballot.

In December, the City Council voted unanimously to put the initiative on Tuesday’s city ballot.

Seal Beach voters will also be asked Tuesday to select two city council members and a city clerk. Mayor Wilson and Councilman Frank Laszlo are running unopposed for the council seats.