Race Focuses on Keeping Brea Brea : 6 Candidates Run for 2 Council Seats in Booming Small Town

Brea Boulevard in downtown Brea, lined with two-story wood-frame shops with big glass display windows, looks like a 1940s Hollywood movie set.

But the architecture of the present looms nearby: the huge, mirrored cubes that house the many new businesses that have been wooed to Brea over the last 10 years.

That incongruity--a small town sandwiched inside a booming financial and industrial center--is shaping the Nov. 8 City Council race, in which six candidates are vying for two open seats. Mayor Norma Arias Hicks is stepping down after two terms to spend more time with her family. Councilman John H. Sutton came to much the same decision after one term.

Brea, not too long ago a sleepy oil town dotted with citrus trees, has become one of the most industrialized communities in Orange County. The city’s population of 33,000 swells to more than 100,000 on weekdays as workers go to their jobs, according to estimates by the Chamber of Commerce.

Some of the new industrial parks boast spectacular buildings, and the city has an innovative Art in Public Places program that requires large developments to put up sculptures. And the Brea Mall attracts shoppers from scores of surrounding cities, building up an already healthy tax base. But the city’s rapid growth and Orange County’s general housing boom have spawned the inevitable traffic and congestion problems.

Small-Town Atmosphere

Not surprisingly, those problems led the list of residents’ concerns in a survey completed last spring. And what they most liked about Brea, according to the survey, is “the small-town atmosphere.”

Against that backdrop, here are the candidates and some of their views:

Gary Edmunds, 38, an electrical contractor, is one of the leading proponents of slow growth among the candidates. He decided to run for office after a 200-unit apartment complex “that looks like an army barracks” was approved by the City Council for a site near his home over the initial objections of the Planning Commission. Edmunds charges that developers’ campaign contributions swayed the decision. “I would like to change the whole process to get developer contributions out of there,” he said. He opposes any new apartments in the city and supports televising council meetings.

- Tony Ferraro, 21, an emergency medical technician, is making his first bid for public office and wants to eventually become president. “I want this as my future, politics,” he said. Ferraro, a city resident for 11 years, opposes “high industrialization” in Brea and favors “good growth in moderate amounts” so that area roads and schools are not overcrowded. He wants the city to offer more help to senior citizens in refurbishing their homes.

- Ron Isles, 50, is an attorney and founder of the Southern California College of Law. Isles is a former Brea mayor who served on the council from 1980 to 1983 and previously was on the Planning Commission for 4 years. “I have the experience other candidates don’t have,” Isles said. “I have the background, experience and leadership.” He lists as his priorities fighting drug abuse among young people and “retaining Brea’s hometown atmosphere.” He has raised $16,564 thus far, more than any other candidate, but $7,000 of that is in the form of personal loans he has made to his campaign.

- Glenn G. Parker, 36, is a marketing manager for an insurance company making his first run for city office. He says the No. 1 issue in the election is development. “We can control the development process--they don’t have to control us,” he said. “We have to preserve the quality of life we have in Brea.” Parker said he wants greater citizen participation early in the approval steps for major projects. “The city needs to represent what the citizens want done, recognizing that you can’t make all the people happy all the time.”

- Vicky M. Pfeiffer, 61, part-owner and controller for a skylight manufacturing firm, is a past president of the city’s Soroptimist Club. Pfeiffer agrees with Parker that the city can do better in communicating with residents and businesses, and she would like to set up a city hot line for complaints. But she supports the city’s redevelopment plans so far, calling them “well-planned growth.” She wants to synchronize city traffic signals to improve traffic flow.

- Wayne D. Wedin, 49, was Brea’s city manager for 14 years, leaving in 1983 to pursue his own financial consulting business. He is the second-leading money raiser with $11,633 collected so far, more than a quarter of it from development interests. Wedin says residents need a closer relationship with the council so that there is a closer public scrutiny of city projects. He supports televising council meetings and says the city charges too much to community groups that use public facilities. His proudest accomplishment as a city manager, he says, was the community’s “spirit as a can-do place.”

City Treasurer John M. Stark Jr., appointed in 1979 and reelected to two subsequent terms, and City Clerk Donna M. Rhine, elected in 1984, are running unopposed for reelection.

BREA CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Six candidates are running for two open City Council seats in Brea in the Nov. 8 election.

City Treasurer John M. Stark Jr. and City Clerk Donna M. Rhine are unopposed for reelection.