Costa Mesa Voters to Decide on Home Ranch; No Date Set

The Costa Mesa City Council decided Monday to place before voters a controversial referendum that could halt C.J. Segerstrom & Son’s massive Home Ranch development.

But despite protests from the Costa Mesa Residents for Responsible Growth--the slow-growth group that will sponsor the referendum--the City Council failed to set a specific election date.

It is likely, however, that a special election will be held before the November general election. The citizens group, which already is sponsoring a traffic-control initiative on the November ballot, had asked the council to include the Home Ranch referendum on the same ballot, hoping that the slow-growth measures would become campaign issues for candidates seeking the three City Council seats that will be up for grabs at that time.

“This is an end run; they are trying to take the referendum out of the context of the City Council elections in November,” said Dr. Steven Goldberger, a member of the citizens group.

But Malcolm Ross, director of planning and design for Segerstrom, applauded the council’s action to place the measure on the ballot as early as possible.

“We feel very confident that the voters will turn down the amendment, “ Ross said. “Therefore, we are happy to have it brought up at an early date.”

The City Council took the action on a 5-0 vote, but Councilman David Wheeler called the move “a rush-through, hurry-up election.”

“This referendum needs to be heard at the same time as the slow-growth initiative,” he said, referring to a measure patterned after the countywide slow-growth initiative to be voted on today.

Two weeks ago, Orange County Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour approved the city’s General Plan amendment and revised environmental assessment, which allowed the $400-million office complex to proceed through the city’s review process.

The project had been stalled in legal limbo since fall, 1987. Building cannot begin until further environmental impact reports are approved by the City Council and the ballot referendum is put to city voters.

The City Council was required by law to place the measure on the ballot after the citizens group, in March, gathered enough signatures to force a citywide vote. The council had delayed its decision to place the measure on the ballot pending Seymour’s ruling.

Home Ranch--which would have 3.1 million square feet of office space for 11,000 workers, a day-care center and bike trails--is envisioned in phases over the next 20 years on a 94-acre site bounded by Fairview Road, the San Diego Freeway, Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue.

The first phase would contain the 16-acre One South Coast Place office complex anchored by towers 20 and 12 stories high.

Opponents of Home Ranch contend that it will clog city streets, add to pollution and change the residential nature of northern Costa Mesa. When completed, the entire Home Ranch development is expected to bring 47,000 more cars each day to the area.