Ruling Revives Ranch Development Issue : City election: A victory at the polls by project opponents might endanger the proposed 329-home Hellman plan in Seal Beach.

A court ruling may make the proposed Hellman Ranch housing development the No. 1 issue in the March 27 election to fill two City Council seats.

On Friday a Superior Court commissioner, ruling that the city’s housing plan was outdated, sent the controversial proposal back to the City Council for rehearing and a new vote.

The council approved the hotly contested plan last October. It remained uncertain whether a second vote can be taken before two new council members take office. Incumbents Victor Grgas and Joyce Risner, who voted for the proposal, are not seeking reelection.

An election victory by development foes could threaten the proposed 329-home development, which critics charge would harm the environment and quality of life in the beach community.

Half of the eight candidates vying for the two council seats said they are dissatisfied with the development plan, and another, a project supporter, said Saturday that if elected he would take another look at it.

Current council members who backed the Mola Development Corp. proposal insisted Saturday that they intend to approve the project again. They said they were certain that the matter will come to the council before the end of their terms May 15.

The long-running Hellman Ranch issue appeared settled before Friday, but Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer invalidated the development plan, saying permits were issued using a section of the city’s general plan that had not been undated as required by law.

“When it comes back to the council, it’s going to be a whole new show,” said candidate Joe Rullo, who believes that the Hellman plan will be amended before being resubmitted.

Rullo, a supporter of the development, is one of five candidates running for the District 1 seat held by Grgas. He has served two terms, the maximum allowed by the city’s charter.

Three candidates are vying for the District 3 seat held by Risner, another two-term lame duck.

Both Grgas and Risner were part of the 4-1 majority that approved the project. The two open council seats make possible a shift to a 3-2 majority against the development.

“The plan now is to win enough council seats so that when the Mola proposal comes back through town, we can take a fresh look at it,” said Galen Ambrose, a candidate in District 1 and the co-founder of the Wetlands Restoration Society, the Seal Beach-based environmental group that won its suit in court Friday.

Growth has traditionally been a hot issue in Seal Beach, where some residents make the maintenance of a village atmosphere a high priority. The city was the site of a bitter 1988 campaign over a strict slow-growth measure that ultimately lost at the polls.

Critics of the development plan insist that it does not properly address environmental concerns and that it will increase traffic, pollution and even crime in the town of 26,000 people.

Ambrose--and to a lesser degree, other candidates in the race--have centered their campaigns around the issue of growth and the detrimental effects that they see it having on Seal Beach.

“Seal Beach is in a crisis and needs strong leadership as massive developments go through that will change our city,” said Ambrose during a recent candidates’ forum. “Is the city of Seal Beach going to sell itself like a whore to the first person who comes in with a checkbook?”

Supporters of the Mola development say the plan adopted by the council is far better than the original proposal. The original plan for 773 dwelling units was reduced to a plan for 329; and 41.4 acres--roughly a third of the site--are set aside for wetlands restoration.

But at an election forum last week, the most common reason candidates gave for supporting the Mola plan was that it was “a done deal.”

“There will be some kind of a development there. People have property rights,” said Grgas, who is backing Rullo in the campaign.

“If the (new council) votes 3-2 to close it off . . . the taxpayers are being exposed to a great risk of liability.”

But Dennis Pollman, a District 1 candidate who supported the Mola plan, said Saturday that if elected, he would reopen discussion of development to gain more public input.

“The only question left is how the public feels,” Pollman said.