Local News in Brief : Costa Mesa : Second Home Ranch Referendum Qualifies

A second referendum on the Home Ranch development project qualified for the ballot Friday, Costa Mesa City Clerk Eileen Phinney said.

The city clerk verified 5,075 of the 5,642 signatures turned in last week by Costa Mesa Residents Political Action Committee, the neighborhood group sponsoring the referendum. The group needed 4,190 signatures for a referendum.

This referendum will allow voters to determine whether the city general plan should be amended to allow construction of a 2.2-million-square-foot office and retail project by C.J. Segerstrom & Sons.

The City Council approved the second plan, a scaled-down version of the original proposal for 3.1 million square feet, in June. That approval came three months after the citizens group turned in 4,966 valid signatures to qualify a referendum on the original proposal.

The City Council has approved the first referendum for the November ballot but has not considered a date for the second.

On Wednesday, Segerstrom officials and the city attorney asked Orange County Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour to declare both referendums invalid, claiming that they would violate state law and thwart efforts to comply with a court order to bring the city’s General Plan into compliance with state standards.

The judge is expected to rule on the motion next month.

The 94-acre Home Ranch project, estimated to cost $400 million, is proposed for farmland bounded by the San Diego Freeway, Fairview Road, Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue.