Battle on Growth Takes Different Path in 2 Cities : Escondido Slow-Growth Coalition Withdraws OK of Signal Project

In a wild and raucous City Council session that lasted far into the night, Escondido’s new slow-growth coalition notched its first victory against entrenched pro-development forces Wednesday.

Verbal clashes and threats of lawsuits and recalls were sprinkled liberally throughout the heated debate, which centered on approval of an agreement between the city and developers of an exclusive, 640-unit estate community in the hills overlooking the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Despite all the fireworks, the outcome was predictable: the slow-growth majority elected last month teamed up to rescind the development agreement for Signal Landmark’s Eaglecrest project, citing flaws in the document.

Under the agreement, the Eaglecrest development would have been exempt from provisions of a restrictive growth-management plan that the three slow-growthers are expected to vote into law next week.

Although veteran Councilman Jerry Harmon and his newly elected colleagues Carla DeDominicis and Kris Murphy were targets of shouted threats and catcalls from a large contingent of builders who packed the chambers, the slow-growth coalition refused to buckle in its resolve to curb the inland city’s rampant growth.

After more than three hours of charges and countercharges, the trio prevailed in a 3-2 vote over Mayor Doris Thurston and Councilman Ernie Cowan.

Forced to Negotiate

Tim Paone, attorney for the Irvine-based Signal firm, said he had been forced to negotiate with Harmon and DeDominicis after it became clear the newly aligned council intended to rescind the development pact first approved by a pro-growth council headed by former Mayor Jim Rady.

Paone, who likened the pressure of the impending decision to having “a gun to my head,” said the goal of city officials in the negotiations was to “extort” more money from the firm, not to scale down the size and density of the development. He mentioned lawsuits against the city several times and warned the council that “any action you take here tonight is invalid.”

“If you want our cooperation,” Paone said, “put aside this foolishness.”

Harmon counterattacked by charging that Paone and Signal had tried to rush through approval of the disputed agreement in the waning days of the former pro-growth council and had applied pressure and threats of a personal lawsuit on Thurston to sign it. Paone said the allegation of threats against Thurston was “preposterous.”

The battle over the Eaglecrest agreement took a new turn Monday when the mayor announced that she had signed the document after pledging two weeks earlier to withhold her official signature until council negotiators Harmon and DeDominicis had a chance to try to reach a compromise with Signal representatives.

When Harmon criticized that move, Thurston said that she signed the agreement after learning that the two City Council members were “talking money, not density” concessions with Signal during 40 hours of closed-door talks.

“I felt I was being made part of accepting blood money,” Thurston said, explaining her reason for signing the disputed agreement. “I did not change my mind. The circumstances changed.”

The mayor conceded that she had been shown the city proposal that Signal pay $500,000 and additional money in return for execution of the agreement and the firm’s counteroffer to pay about $275,000 to the city in exchange for approval of the agreement. She said she deliberated over the weekend, “and made up my mind to sign it.”

DeDominicis, meanwhile, said she and Harmon tried to talk about reduced density in the project but Signal representatives flatly refused to consider any such change. She said that she and Harmon “were trying to get the best deal possible” for the city and to reduce public improvements pledged by the developers so that Eaglecrest would not be the vehicle for spurring further high-density development in the hilly, rural area.

Eaglecrest, formerly called Cloverdale, has been in the planning stages for eight years and received city building and zoning approvals in 1985. But, at the urging of pro-growth council members, developers of the 872-acre tract agreed to revise their plans to include a private golf course and other recreational and public facilities.

The revamped plan called for smaller building sites and larger roads, water lines and sewer pipes than those required for the development in order to accommodate heavier use in the future. The revised plan was approved earlier this year over Harmon’s objections that it would bring urban development to a rural area.

At times Wednesday night, Thurston lost control of the audience, unable to quell loud demonstrations by supporters of the project, catcalls and shouted insults directed toward the slow-growth group.

A nearly equal number of supporters applauded the new slow-growth council majority. One man called for the removal of Thurston for malfeasance in office--which he defined as her signing of the development agreement--and another speaker advised that: “We voters made our choice. We voted them (the slow-growth majority) in and we want them to do the job we voted them in for.”

But opponents of the slow-growth group threatened to start a recall drive against the three council members.

The council’s vote came after City Atty. David Chapman advised members that they had the right to rescind the development agreement--as they did--if they found that there had been flaws in the document or the method of its passage.

He and Deputy City Atty. Jeff Epp noted that a draft of the development agreement was not available for public review at the time of the city Planning Commission’s public hearing on the project, and also said it was changed substantially before it was approved by the former pro-growth council just before two members--Rady and former councilman Doug Best--left office.

Epp also described flaws in the required environmental review, which he said lacked a study on endangered species on the Eaglecrest site at the time it was approved by the former council. Since then, he said, a study has been conducted and indications are that the endangered least Bell’s vireo nests there parts of the year. The small bird has been responsible for blocking several major public-works projects, including dams and highways.

Both sides agreed that the issue probably will be settled in court. Indeed, a frustrated Paone said Thursday that the company plans to sue the city in both state and federal court for damages and for validation of the development agreement.

“Never in all my years of practice of land-use law have I heard such frivolous, unfounded, misleading, inaccurate statements by city officials,” the Signal attorney said. “We feel we have a valid development agreement with the city.”

The City Council, meanwhile, huddled with its attorneys Wednesday night after the hearing to discuss what litigation could arise from the vote. No statement was issued after the executive session.