LOCAL ELECTIONS / SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO BOND MEASURE : Park Victory Seen as Effort to Retain Lifestyle

When almost 72% of this city’s voters passed a $21-million bond issue to preserve open space for parkland, they reaffirmed a stance toward controlled growth that has been growing in the historic community since the early 1970s.

But Tuesday’s special election did more than solidify longtime sentiments to substitute land preservation for land development. City officials agreed that people were also voting to safeguard a lifestyle they believe is unique within Orange County.

“I think what people are saying is, ‘Let’s protect San Juan Capistrano for what it is and not make it look like so much of the rest of the county, with homes bunched five feet from each other,’ ” said Councilman Anthony L. Bland.

Mayor Gary L. Hausdorfer agreed that voters seemed to be expressing a desire for an alternative to the rapid development that has overtaken surrounding communities such as Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo.

“I think they see this as a way to slow things down,” Hausdorfer said. “There is an economic value in being surrounded by open space, rather than an area that just has a park on the corner, because there is a demand for that lifestyle.”

The bond money is targeted to purchase two parcels totaling 140 acres that may become a “Central Park” with a community center, playing fields and recreational trails. Some of the acreage will be left as farmland.

The park is envisioned on 120 acres of dying orange groves along Camino Capsitrano north of Junipero Serra Road. The other parcel is 20 acres of farmland near the intersection of Alipaz Street and Camino del Avion, next to Marco Forster Junior High School.

Armed with a mandate from local taxpayers, city officials said Wednesday they now must negotiate with five landowners who make up the 140-acre parcel, and counteroffers from developers who may be also trying to buy the property. Three landowners contacted Wednesday said they would gladly sell to the city if they received a fair price.

At the May 1 council meeting, a citizens’ advisory committee will be formed to develop a master plan for the land.

Aside from providing land-purchase funds, observers also touted the special election as one of the few times Southern California voters have approved a measure to levy additional property taxes earmarked to purchase land for use as open space and parkland. In 1975, the Northern California community of Walnut Creek approved a similar bond for $7 million, allowing a 5,000-acre purchase, said San Juan Capistrano City Atty. John C. Shaw.

And for a local election, the turnout was overwhelming.

According to final ballot counts, 4,923 people, representing 38% of the the city’s 12,000 registered voters, went to the polls on a single-issue election, passing the measure with 5% more than the required two-thirds vote. By comparison, an April, 1988, City Council election drew only only 22% of registered voters and a 1986 council election drew a 16% turnout.

“It’s remarkable that this would pass because bond issues generally don’t fare very well in local elections,” said Mark Baldassare, a UC Irvine social ecology professor. “This (issue) must really fit into the local political agenda.”

Methods to control growth and preserve open space have surfaced in various forms since a new city general plan, a blueprint for development, was approved in 1974. That plan, Bland said, cut population projections from 80,000 to just over 40,000 people, and stated the city’s goal to protect ridgelines rimming the Capistrano Valley, made official last year in a hillside preservation law.

In 1976, voters were asked to support the creation of a 230-acre agricultural preserve and whether a separate bond measure should be drafted to pay for the land.

That preserve, which includes the 140 acres from Tuesday’s election, was created in 1977 and survived a 1978 challenge. But the bond measure proposal failed, even though it would have cost only $5.5 million to purchase the entire 230-acre preserve.

Also in 1977, the City Council became the first in Orange County to adopt an annual limit on the number of homes that could be built, which has remained at 400 units per year since that time.

“We were called a bunch of commies back then,” said Councilman Kenneth E. Friess.

Despite the criticism, it has translated into more prudent local planning, Hausdorfer said.

“Had other communities adopted some of these policies, South County would look a lot different today,” he said.