LOCAL ELECTIONS : Jail Initiative Fails; Dead Heat in Irvine : City Council: Agran and Sheridan were in a seesaw battle in the hotly contested mayoral race. Rival plans for turning pedestrian overpasses into roadways are virtually even.

Mayor Larry Agran and his council nemesis Sally Anne Sheridan were nearly deadlocked in the mayor’s race early today while conflicting ballot measures on whether to replace pedestrian bridges on Yale Avenue with two-lane roads were in a dead heat.

With almost half the votes counted, Agran and Sheridan were in a seesaw battle in the hotly contested mayoral race, which has been marked by accusations and last-minute campaign mailers attacking candidates. Agran took an early lead, which slowly eroded throughout the evening.

“I knew it was going to be close,” Sheridan said. “I have waged a battle against huge odds. You have to remember that Larry Agran has a very sophisticated political machine with tons of money.”

In the races for two open council seats, incumbent Cameron Cosgrove and Planning Commissioner Mary Ann Gaido, who completed Agran’s slate, were slightly ahead of retired Marine Gen. Art Bloomer and mediator Barry J. Hammond, both supporters of Sheridan. Council candidates Robert J. West, a real estate consultant, and Albert E. Nasser, a retired attorney, were well behind the pack.

Voters were split on Measure B, a highly emotional issue calling for a $9-million project to replace two pedestrian bridges with overpasses for automobiles near major residential areas along Yale Avenue. Measure C, an Agran-supported initiative that was the flip side of Measure B and designed to preserve the overpasses for pedestrians only, also was in a dead heat.

The climate was tense at Agran’s home in University Park early today as the votes were reported. Supporters and the mayor were huddled around a home computer terminal keeping close tabs on the returns.

“It’s close,” Agran said. “We will have to keep watching. Its getting interesting.”

If defeated, Sheridan, an outspoken 54-year-old real estate agent who has grown impatient with Agran’s policies, will keep her council seat. She will once again face the possibility of a council dominated by the mayor and his political supporters, as she has for the last two years.

Agran, who has served on the council for 12 years, became the city’s first elected mayor in 1988. Sheridan has been on the council for six years.

The outcome of the election could have a profound impact on how development in Irvine will proceed. Agran has espoused environmental protection and developing a vital downtown by redesigning the Irvine Business Complex to include a concentrated mix of residential, retail and commercial uses linked to the rest of the city by a monorail.

Sheridan has supported a more traditional approach to growth, favoring approvals of pending Irvine Co. projects and questioning Agran’s effort to get a workable monorail to reduce congestion. Instead, Sheridan wants to build new roads and widen existing ones, such as replacing the two pedestrian bridges on Yale Avenue with overpasses to accommodate cars, something the mayor opposes.

The bitterly fought mayoral race was one of the nastiest campaigns in the city’s 18-year history, observers say, with the battle often shifting between debate over local issues to scrutiny of the candidates’ personal business.

During the race, Agran was often vilified in campaign mailers by members of the Sheridan camp, which included the Lincoln Club, a Republican organization made up of the county’s wealthiest developers and business people.

Earlier in the campaign, Sheridan became caught up in questions about her credibility when she said she had a master’s degree in nursing from Harvard University when she did not. The district attorney, acting on a complaint by an Agran supporter, concluded that she did not perjure herself when she misrepresented her education in a sworn court deposition.

Sheridan, a real estate agent, also came under close scrutiny for possible conflict of interest for her role in the sale of more than 25 homes for city employees and executives of the Irvine Co., which owns about a third of the land in the city.

Agran, Harvard educated and possessing lofty ideas about the city’s future, portrayed himself as an innovative leader and protector of the public interest. He considered himself above the mudslinging in the race but has disparaged Sheridan as a combative opponent bent on giving the Irvine Co. whatever it wants.

Agran, who has gained national notoriety, including a short write-up in Rolling Stone magazine, was strongly criticized by his opponent for offering what Sheridan called mostly symbolic gestures, such as an international affairs program for the city and environmental regulations.

But Agran said Sheridan epitomized the “can’t-do” method of government. He said he believes that cities across the United States can use local policies to collectively shape the future of the nation.

Times staff writer Wendy Paulson and correspondent Leon Teeboom contributed to this report.