Ruling Delayed on Referendums Affecting Home Ranch

An Orange County judge delayed action Wednesday on a request to invalidate two citizens’ referendums that could block construction of the controversial Home Ranch development in Costa Mesa.

Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour, who was asked by developer C.J. Segerstrom & Sons to invalidate the Nov. 8 referendums, said he will rule “once I’ve read all the legal arguments.”

On several occasions during the court hearing, however, Seymour said he had found “some merit” to the developer’s argument that both referendums are technically flawed.

At stake is Segerstrom’s 94-acre, $400-million Home Ranch project, to be built in phases over the next 20 years. The development would include a planned 16-acre One South Coast Plaza complex, with a 20-story office tower.

Opponents, who formed Costa Mesa Residents for Responsible Growth, circulated petitions seeking both referendums to stop the development because they said it could clog city streets with traffic, add to pollution and change the residential nature of northern Costa Mesa. The project has been stalled since last fall, when the citizens’ group filed a lawsuit against the city.

Daniel J. Curtin Jr., co-counsel for Segerstrom, said both referendum petitions were flawed because they improperly asked each petitioner for his or her address and used pre-printed dates. In addition, Curtin said the petitions were improperly circulated.

But Leadie Belin, who represented the citizen group, argued that such technicalities “were unreasonable.” Belin told the court that the referendums can only be invalidated if they are sufficiently defective in their language to mislead and deceive the voters.

“But this is not the case here,” she said.

Curtin argued that citizens can seek proper recourse through the initiative process rather than a referendum, but Belin said that would undermine “the voter’s constitutional right to the referendum process.”

The Costa Mesa City Council voted in June to place a referendum on the November ballot to decide the fate of the project. The ballot will also include a slow-growth initiative that would tie future development in the city to improvements of roads and other public services.

The City Council in June approved a 2.1-million-square-foot, scaled-down version of the development proposed by Segerstrom. If city voters turn down the original 3.1-million-square-foot development, then the developer could proceed with the smaller version approved by the council, Curtin said.