3 Slow-Growthers Win Seats in Del Mar Race : Voters Also Approve Measures to Reclaim Beach, Pay Council Members $300 a Month

Del Mar voters Tuesday elected three slow-growth candidates to the City Council and endorsed a beach-preservation measure that will require property owners to tear down seawalls that encroach on the public beach.

Elected to four-year terms on the council were Jan McMillan, 46, a writer and former newspaper columnist, Jacqueline Winterer, 51, a research geologist, and Gay Hugo, 45, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego.

They defeated incumbent Ronnie Delaney, 43, a self-employed property manager, H. K. (Swede) Throneson, 71, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and former schoolteacher, and Mark Livingston, 38, a certified public accountant.

Proposition D, which is meant to restore public access to 70,000 square feet of beach, enjoyed a surprisingly easy victory.

Voters also narrowly endorsed Proposition C, which will provide a $300-a-month salary to previously unpaid council members.

Voter turnout was 42%, which political observers said was because Proposition D galvanized the town’s environmental and slow-growth movement and contributed to the ouster of Delaney and the victory of McMillan, Winterer and Hugo.

“The voters told us they really want to keep Del Mar a residential community--it’s very important to them,” Hugo said.

Unofficial results showed McMillan with 1,207 votes, Winterer 1,189, Hugo 1,178, Delaney 1,076, Throneson 1,008 and Livingston 965.

On Proposition D, the vote was 1,303 to 902.

Delaney said she thought voters were rebelling after the approval in the past two years of a hotel and shopping complex for the tiny downtown.

Like others, Delaney said Proposition D contributed to her defeat.

Voters also approved Propositions A and B, which maintain the existing hotel-motel tax and admissions fee at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Neither was opposed.

Two seats won by the slow-growthers had been held by Scott Barnett and Lew Hopkins, neither of whom sought re-election.

The campaign brought out the historic political divisions in the upscale beach city between a moderate, business-oriented bloc and the environmental, slow-growth “greens.”

Delaney, Throneson and Livingston were an official slate, sharing campaign materials and television advertisements. The trio opposed Proposition D, supported the hotel approved by voters last February, and were more willing to consider development along Camino del Mar.

Winterer, Hugo and McMillan were not an official slate but shared similar stances on major issues: favoring Proposition D, opposing the hotel and displaying a leery attitude toward development.

Proposition D, which qualified for the ballot via a petition campaign, was seen by boosters as a way to end the legal and political stalemate over seawalls and other protective barriers that encroach on the public beach.

Property-owner lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits had delayed the City Council from settling the issue, despite several years of study.

A city Planning Department report summarizing a year of public hearings noted: “The threat of litigation was inherent throughout; in response special counsel was retained by the city.”

Rather than wait for the council to finish work on a “beach overlay zone ordinance,” beach preservationists took the issue directly to voters.