Developer Sues to Overturn San Juan Measure

A San Juan Capistrano developer filed suit Tuesday in Superior Court, seeking to invalidate the city’s slow-growth initiative approved by voters Nov. 8.

Attorney Charles F. Benninghoff filed the suit on behalf of Verde San Juan Estates General Partnership.

“We seek no financial gain. All we’re asking is that Measure X be declared unconstitutional and that the city of San Juan Capistrano be ordered to cease any implementation process,” Benninghoff said Tuesday.

San Juan Capistrano voters approved Measure X by a margin of 51.6% in the general election. The measure, which ties development to improvements in traffic conditions, is almost identical to San Clemente’s slow-growth initiative, Measure E, which voters passed in June and Superior Court Judge John C. Woolley ruled unconstitutional in October.

Benninghoff said that based on Woolley’s ruling, he and other developers are confident that the San Juan Capistrano suit will prevail.

Measure X requires that when a major development increases traffic congestion by 1% or more at an intersection or highway link, improvements will be required to bring traffic flow up to standards.

But Woolley ruled that the similar San Clemente measure illegally requires developers to solve traffic problems that their projects did not cause.

“There is absolutely no intent to do anything harmful to the city,” Benninghoff said. “I am a landowner and lawyer in the city.

“I spoke with the city before we filed (the suit), and I’m firmly of the belief that the (the city’s) general plan already in place is more than sufficient. I’ve had experience with it; I know it works and it has kept San Juan Capistrano a very beautiful city.”