FULLERTON : Anti-Noise Measure Invalid, Report Says

A proposed ballot initiative aimed at halting major street-widening projects in Fullerton contains “serious legal flaws,” according to an analysis prepared for the city and released Thursday.

The initiative aims to prevent the city from widening or improving major streets if such construction is expected to cause traffic noise above a specified level.

A group of Fullerton residents calling themselves Save Our Bastanchury on Jan. 9 began the process to place the measure before Fullerton voters.

Attorney Jeffrey M. Oderman, who was hired by the city to review the initiative, wrote that the measure could be ruled invalid because it interferes with an essential function of the City Council.

The petition “is not properly the subject of the initiative process and would be invalid if adopted,” wrote Oderman, who is with the Costa Mesa firm of Rutan & Tucker. “We would therefore strongly urge you to advise your clients to reconsider the petition and not to circulate it.”

An attorney for Save Our Bastanchury, Thomas M. Jones, said Thursday that he read Oderman’s 11-page letter but hasn’t had time to examine the case law cited.

“We certainly felt that when we prepared (the initiative) that it was valid,” Jones said.

Members of Save Our Bastanchury, originally formed to halt the planned widening of a one-mile stretch of Bastanchury Road between Euclid Street and Harbor Boulevard, had planned to begin collecting signatures Feb. 1, said Mary Homme, the group’s president.

To qualify the measure for the ballot, the group needs the signatures of at least 10% of the city’s registered voters, or about 6,000 signatures.

City Atty. R.K. (Kerry) Fox said an invalid ballot measure would cost the residents group and the city thousands of dollars in legal fees.

He would recommend that the City Council challenge the initiative in court if the group gathers enough signatures to place it on the ballot, he said.