Defeat of Center Assessed : Elections: The failure of a proposed civic center to win approval points out the need for better planning in West Hollywood, the victorious measure’s backers say.

Supporters of a measure that successfully blocked construction of a proposed $23-million civic center in West Hollywood Park said Wednesday that the victory points to a need for more thorough long-range planning in their 5-year-old city.

When final votes were tallied Tuesday night, the ballot measure preventing construction of the civic center in the park defeated by a narrow margin a competing measure that supported building the project.

Both measures passed, but the initiative against the civic center prevailed because it received more votes. The results had been incorrectly tabulated in some editions of The Times on Tuesday.

“I hope this will persuade the council as a whole to set a long-range capital improvements plan,” said City Councilman Steve Schulte, the driving force behind the winning initiative and a frequent dissenting voice on the council.

“We need a fire station, a library (expansion), parking structures and a city hall, but we need to prioritize,” Schulte said. He said any future plans for a civic center should be weighed against those needs.

The civic center would have included City Council chambers, an expanded public library, underground parking and city offices. Opponents argued that the park was highly valued by the community and that construction of the civic center would have meant moving a public pool and other recreation facilities.

Councilman John Heilman, who led the campaign for the new civic center, said the city will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars it spent during two years of planning.

Although the winning ballot initiative does not ban the construction of the civic center at other sites, it represents a significant setback for the facility.

“I think it is unlikely we are going to see anything for many years,” Heilman said. “I don’t think there are any alternatives.”

Heilman, along with Councilwoman Helen Albert, had vowed to challenge the initiative banning the center in the park if it won. But on Wednesday both he and Albert said they had changed their minds and will not attempt to block implementation of the measure.

“I don’t think the city is in a position to (challenge). This has been enacted, and we will do whatever is required,” Heilman said.

Said Albert, “This is what we have.”

A West Hollywood city attorney’s opinion issued earlier had indicated that the measure banning the civic center in the park violates state law that gives local government complete jurisdiction over its public lands.

Heilman could have sought an injunction against the measure based on that opinion, but there is nothing the council could do to challenge the election results short of filing a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Schulte said he found a victory for disenfranchised voters in the rubble of the would-be project.

“This was a group of non-ideological, independent folks who have a real belief in this community. But they have not been able to plug into the status quo vision of the council,” Schulte said.

Indeed, the supporters of the ban reveled in their victory.

“We beat City Hall! We beat City Hall!” several people chanted after the final vote was announced shortly before midnight Tuesday at West Hollywood Park auditorium.

Schulte said he and his supporters will push for a search of alternative sites for construction of a less elaborate--and more functional--city hall.

“This gives people a choice. They are tired of having some things rammed down their throats by the council majority,” Schulte said.