IRVINE : Lame-Duck Council Pushes Its Agenda

Time is running out.

Two meetings remain for Mayor Larry Agran and his council majority, defeated in last week’s election by a slate of conservative candidates. The outgoing majority’s push to enact ordinances reflecting its views is not unusual in lame-duck politics.

But the issues Agran and his backers represent are not always typical. Many observers say his unconventional approach to municipal problems led to his defeat by Mayor-elect Sally Anne Sheridan and led to the election of two new councilmen who support her.

This week, the lame-duck council agenda included:

* A law prohibiting lush, water-guzzling lawns in new developments and calling for drought-tolerant plants.

* Setting a $50 fee to apply for exemptions from a controversial ban on chemicals known to be destructive to the Earth’s ozone layer--the first such ban by any American city.

* Allowing construction of a pair of office towers, despite a development moratorium in the Irvine Business Complex, because it would ensure construction of the first, half-mile segment of what could become a countywide monorail system.

Only one of these items, the $50 fee, was passed. The other two were postponed. The last meeting for Agran and Councilmen Edward A. Dornan and Cameron Cosgrove is July 10. Their successors--Sheridan, Barry Hammond and Arthur Bloomer--take office at a July 20 swearing-in ceremony.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, as Agran’s 12-year tenure on the council waned, his concerns about the limited time surfaced during regular business.

Several times, staff members were asked to tie up loose ends on the incompleted agenda items by one of the next two meetings.

At other moments, Agran singled out agenda items and offered his opinions for the incoming council.

During the public comments portion of the meeting--attended by Agran supporters effusively praising his work--the mayor suggested that residents and the future council demand a television forum from the local cable company when its franchise comes up for renewal.

Sheridan, however, was badgered during public commentary by Agran supporters who said they are worried that her council majority will rubber-stamp Irvine Co. projects and those of other developers.

“Now the new City Council and you, Ms. Sheridan, will be responsible,” Leslie Pyle said. “You need to remember that 48% of us don’t agree with you. The citizens of Irvine won’t tolerate developer profits at the expense of our quality of life. . . . It’s our city, and we don’t want it to be a company town anymore.”

Sheridan said her first move as mayor will be to set a list of priorities with the new council.

“I have a very different style of government than Larry (Agran) that is more open,” Sheridan said. “The city is not going to take a massive direction change. We’ve had huge changes, and I think we need to sit for a little bit.”

However, Sheridan sharply criticized the 25% affordable housing requirement in the city general plan, a blueprint for development and plans to charge business developers a fee to provide housing along with new jobs.

In addition, Sheridan vowed to put a stop to excessive public comments that at the last three council meetings have lasted from one to three hours.

“Council bashing is stopping on the 20th of July,” Sheridan said. “To (publicly) deride a council member and have the mayor allow it I think is unconscionable, and I won’t do it.”