Voters Reject Slow-Growth Initiative in Seal Beach

A Seal Beach slow-growth initiative, which would strip the City Council of authority over land-use decisions for public open space, was soundly rejected by voters Tuesday.

By more than a 2-to-1 margin, residents beat back the measure, which sought, among other things, to require voter approval of any development on public or recreational lands, such as golf courses. With all 23 precints reporting, the vote totals were 5,074 (68.8%) against the initiative and 2,297 (31.2%) in favor.

Some slow-growth activists and their opponents have looked to Tuesday’s vote in the tiny coastal town of 27,000 residents as a barometer of voter sentiment on the growth issue countywide.

Proponents of the measure pitched it as a way to control density and development and preserve what is left of the city’s scant open space. But attorney Bruce Stark, one of the measure’s co-authors, acknowledged late Tuesday night that the initiative was too broad and confusing, and so voters turned it down.

“I’m very disappointed,” Stark said at City Hall as final votes were being tallied. “The people who stand to gain the most voted against it.” He said there is “a strong possibility” the group will launch a new drive to qualify a similar measure for the November ballot.

Councilwoman Joyce Risner, who opposed the measure, was overjoyed. “I’m proud of the people of Seal Beach,” she said. “I’m very happy that the people have not bought the deception (spread) by Spring,” the group that sponsored the measure.

If Measure A had passed, all land-use decisions involving property already designated as open space within the city would go directly to the voters. Development of such public lands or quasi-public recreational areas would require approval of two-thirds of the city’s registered voters.

The Spring initiative was placed on the Seal Beach ballot by the council in December, after proponents gathered enough signatures to qualify the measure on its own.

The measure, promoted by the group called the Seal Beach Preservation Initiative Group, from which ballot item got its name, had met with strong disapproval by city officials, who cited legal pitfalls if the referendum were approved.

City Manager Robert Nelson had said that Seal Beach stood to lose up to $29 million in revenue over the next 55 years if the initiative passed, largely because it would jeopardize plans to rezone the Zoeter School site for development.

Stark contended that the city is devoted to high-density development and sought the initiative to “tie their hands.”

But Spring critics had suggested that the measure stemmed from the concerns of rental property owners, such as Stark, rather than for the city’s welfare.

Among the initiative’s varied aims, property owners would be allowed to replace buildings destroyed in natural disasters “in kind” rather than upgrading them to current zoning standards. That change in the city building codes would save property owners tens of thousands of dollars, which the measure’s opponents say is Spring’s true objective.

Opponents say Spring has falsely disguised the measure as a slow-growth tool when it is actually a self-serving law.

“It is coincidental that the only sections of the initiative that the city attorney says could be legally enforced has to do with expanding the private property rights” of rental property owners, Nelson said.

Proponents deny the charges, contending that the measure is the last line of defense against increasing density and development in a town with the smallest percentage of open space among the county’s more than two dozen cities.

Voters also cast ballots for two uncontested City Council seats and a two-person race for city clerk.

Edna Wilson, who ran unopposed for council District 2 and has finished serving one term as mayor, was reelected. Also elected was Frank Laszlo, unopposed as the District 4 council candidate. He replaces City Councilman Frank Clift, who declined to run for reelection.

Incumbent City Clerk Joanne Yeo, who has worked with the city’s records since 1970, was easily returned to office, defeating challenger Vanessa McCants, a part-time model and business major at Cal State Long Beach.

SEAL BEACH ELECTIONS

23 of 23 precincts reporting

Measure A: Shall the Seal Beach preservation and open spaces initiative ordinance for the city of Seal Beach be adopted.

Votes Percent Yes 2,297 31.2 No 5,074 68.8

City Clerk

Votes Percent Vanessa McCants 1,319 18.9 Joanne Yeo (inc.) 5,694 81.1

City Council

(2 to be elected)

Votes Percent Edna Wilson (inc.) 25 100.0 (unopposed) Frank Laszlo (unopposed) 25 100.0