SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Opposition Surfaces on Park Bond Issue

A week before voters decide on a $21-million bond issue to finance a proposed 120-acre central park, the first organized opposition has surfaced in the form of a telephone survey, supporters claim.

Since the City Council put the issue on the April 10 ballot, San Juan Citizens for Open Space has been campaigning virtually unopposed, even though passage of Measure D would increase property taxes.

On Monday, however, leaders of the open space group said that a telephone survey company has been asking residents if they would support the measure if they knew that property taxes for every household would increase by $200 a year.

Measure D leaders say that while some homeowners will pay that much, the average yearly property tax bill will increase by $66.50.

The tax increase would pay for preserving up to 140 acres near Camino Capistrano and Junipero Serra Road from any future development. City officials want to build a park with playing fields, horse stables, a community center and a garden.

At a press conference Monday, Measure D leader Marlene Draper said: “We’re here to tell you that there is a smear campaign going on. There is a deceptive campaign going on and it looks like it is being funded by developers.”

The telephone survey company has been identified only as S&L; Surveys, said Draper, who is also a member of the Capistrano school board. There is no such company listed in telephone directories.

But developers and other critics of the bond measure, most notably slow growth and anti-tax advocate Russell Burkett, said they don’t know who is doing the survey.

“I don’t know who S&L; is, or who is orchestrating the survey,” said Richard Andrews, a spokesman for Irvine-based Messenger Investment Inc., which holds options to buy a portion of the land that is earmarked for parkland.

“Anybody could be doing it,” said Andrews, who added that his company has been keeping a low profile until after the election because it fears a negative image. “I’d be curious to know who’s stirring the pot.”

Several developers have said that if the bond measure fails, they will exercise their options to buy the property and develop office space, shopping centers and homes.

Mayor Gary L. Hausdorfer, a supporter of the bond measure, criticized the survey tactic during the press conference.

“Regardless of who is behind it, it’s wrong,” Hausdorfer said.