LOCAL ELECTIONS : SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO BOND MEASURE : Close Vote Predicted for Proposal to Buy Parkland

Supporters of a bond measure to finance acquisition of new parkland in the northern agricultural area of the city are predicting a narrow victory at the polls Tuesday, even though its passage would guarantee a property tax increase.

“It is going to be really tight,” admitted Marlene Draper, chairwoman of San Juan Citizens for Open Space, the nonprofit group that is campaigning for passage of Measure D on Tuesday’s ballot.

Warning that a 120-acre agricultural preserve near the confluence of Trabuco and Oso creeks is being eyed by developers, city officials late last year proposed a $21-million general obligation bond issue to buy the land.

If Measure D passes, the city would also buy another 20 acres of farmland near Del Obispo Street and Camino del Avion, next to Marco Forster Junior High School.

The northern swath of tree-shaded farmland and grove land along Camino Capistrano and Junipero Serra Road would be transformed into the city’s largest park, with ball fields, a botanical garden, walking trails, horse stables and a multipurpose community center.

The smaller section, if bought from local farmer Shig Kinoshita, would also be converted into recreational park space, city officials said.

Measure D needs a two-thirds majority to pass. The city has 12,900 registered voters, city officials said.

The bond measure comes at a time when a growing number of South County residents are taking a closer look at development in the area, once considered almost a rural outpost of the county.

Both San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente voters approved local slow-growth initiatives in recent years. And Laguna Beach officials are using condemnation powers to preserve private property for public use in the Laguna Greenbelt area. Laguna officials have also taken a tough stand against a proposed planned community in Laguna Canyon.

Until last week, proponents of San Juan’s Measure D campaigned largely unopposed, blanketing the city with bright green political signs and holding informal meetings in almost every neighborhood of the 23.5-square-mile city of 24,500.

Campaigning under the slogan “Save Our Open Space,” proponents collected $10,030 in contributions by last week, according to city records.

Open-space advocates argue that there is “an acute need for additional available parkland and open space, especially to serve a wide range of active recreation needs.”

This weekend and until Tuesday, pro-Measure D workers will alter their game plan, walking each precinct and challenging claims made by a company calling itself S&L; Surveyors, which is trying to persuade residents by telephone to vote against the bond measure, Draper said.

To pay for the new parkland, the average homeowner would be assessed $5.50 more a month in property taxes in the first year of the 27-year obligation. New home owners, however, could face tax increases of almost $140 a year.

By the third year that figure would almost double, according to a tax schedule provided by financial consultant Michael McNamara.

S&L; Surveyors, according to proponents of the measure who received calls, asked people whether they would vote for the measure if they knew that it would raise property taxes by $200 a year for each household.

Calling it part of a “smear campaign” orchestrated by developers, proponents of Measure D and city officials are urging the district attorney to investigate. Developers have denied involvement.

Nevertheless, supporters of Measure D said they are not worried that voters may reject the measure, even though it will raise taxes--a perennially unpopular result in Orange County. For instance, in November voters countywide defeated Measure M, which would have raised the sales tax one-half of 1 cent to pay for transportation improvements and transit projects.

Mayor Gary L. Hausdorfer, who first proposed the bond sale, said that unlike other tax-raising issues, such as jails or roads, voters in San Juan Capistrano appear willing to accept a property tax increase to guarantee permanent open space in fast-growing South County.

“We are not asking them to pay for something that is untangible,” Hausdorfer said. “We are asking them to invest in something that they can feel, touch and use on a daily basis.”

Hausdorfer and Draper said they have received wide support in the community. Several youth sports associations, the Friends of Historic San Juan, the local League of Women Voters, the South Coast Audubon Society and the Sierra Club have all endorsed Measure D.

“I absolutely believe that it is the right time and the place for this kind of issue to become successful,” Hausdorfer said.

Ironically, the most vocal critics of Measure D are some of the city’s growth-management advocates, who question whether local farmers would be willing to sell out to the city.

They also question whether the city can afford the inflated cost of the property or the extra cost of developing it after acquisition. The $21-million bond issue, they point out, will be only to buy the land.

Several developers have already approached local farmers, and at least one developer has signed an option to buy.

“I don’t want to appear to be against open space,” said Tom Rogers, a former Orange County Republican Party chairman who campaigned for the a 1988 countywide slow-growth measure. “But I am dead set against taxpayers paying for the council’s past mistakes.”

Rogers, who also advocated the city’s slow-growth measure, said the council has been too lenient with developers in the past by not demanding that more open space or in-lieu fees be paid to the city as part of developer agreements.

“They’ve never met a developer they didn’t like,” Rogers said about city leaders, noting that if Measure D is rejected by voters, the council appears ready to deal with developers.

“If it gets turned down,” he said, council members “will be able to blame it on the voters. It’s not fair.”

Rogers also warned that local property owners will be footing the bill for a recreation facility that will be open to all county residents and that maintenance costs will become a burden to city residents.

“Basically, it is a lose-lose situation” for residents, Rogers said.

Don Anderson, another local resident, complained that even though the average taxpayer will pay just $5.50 a month, others will pay far more.

Anderson said proponents have misled voters by not providing a complete tax schedule to homeowners. “They appear to be trying to hide the facts,” he said. “That really irks me.”

City spokesman Jeff Parker said a complete tax schedule was printed late last week and is available at City Hall.

Meanwhile, developers have kept an unusually low profile, saying they decided not to oppose the measure for fear of a backlash.

“We don’t do ourselves any favors if we fight it (the bond measure) and we lose,” said Richard Andrews, a spokesman for the Irvine-based Messenger Investment Co., which has an agreement to buy 43 acres at Junipero Serra Road and Camino Capistrano, about 15 acres of which fall within the proposed park area.

Andrews said if the measure is approved, he hopes that city officials will “deal cooperatively” with developers on other projects. His company plans to build either an office complex or a retail center near Junipero Serra Road.

“We still want to go back and work with the city on how to use the balance of the property to our best benefit,” Andrews said.

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