LOCAL ELECTIONS / HELLMAN RANCH : Two Seal Beach Council Members Likely to Resign

Reacting to Tuesday’s overwhelming defeat of Measure A-91, two City Council members who backed the developer-supported ballot initiative for building on the Hellman Ranch property said Wednesday that they are likely to submit their resignations.

Councilman Joe Hunt, who said he had been considering resigning from the council even before the election returns came in, said he will give up his seat as soon as the council agrees on his replacement. Councilwoman Edna Wilson, who was less definite about her plans to resign, said she has been encouraged by some supporters to retain her seat.

“I think I will resign, but I’m not sure exactly when,” Wilson said. “I have some obligations on the council yet. . . . If I resign, it’s not to shirk any duty I feel I might have to the city. It’s just that I’m tired. With all we’ve gone through in the last seven years, it’s been a lot.”

Hunt said he decided to leave office because he expected arguments and divisiveness to continue in the city regardless of the outcome of the election.

“Golly, I just didn’t want to go through those kind of experiences again,” said Hunt, who, along with Wilson, waged heated battles against the council majority over the controversial development proposal.

The debate over the future of Hellman Ranch has generated intense animosity in the council chambers. Arguments over the wording of Measures A-91 and B-91--an alternative backed by the council majority that was also defeated Tuesday night--dragged through the courts and turned neighbors into enemies in the past five years.

But despite the fights between Hunt and Wilson and the council majority, at least one council member said she will be sorry to see them go.

“It bothers me because I felt that there were so many issues that we could work well together on,” Councilwoman Gwen Forsythe said. “I felt like I always deferred to Joe’s expertise because he’s so logical and he’s well-educated and I respect him, because he does have that kind of calculating mind that can come to a quick decision on things.

“I know how emotional, time-consuming and how draining this job has been this past year,” she added. “And with Edna, she has gone through a year of absolute hell. Losing her sister, going back and forth and taking care of and nursing her dying sister, and just the meetings going on and on, the accusations--it’s been very hard.”

Many residents and officials had hoped the election would end the controversy, but the ballot defeat means that battles over Hellman Ranch are sure to continue.

Appeals of the Wetlands Restoration Society lawsuit, which overturned the City Council’s original approval of the project, are pending, as is an $11-million lawsuit by Mola Development Corp., which was seeking voter approval through Measure A-91 to build 329 homes, 26 acres of parks and 41.4 acres of wetlands on the 149-acre property.

Forsythe, who opposed A-91 along with Mayor Frank Laszlo and Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings, said she sees the election results as a clear indication that Seal Beach residents oppose the Mola proposal.

With a 56.1% voter turnout and lines at polling places all day, Seal Beach citizens turned down Measure A-91 by a 25% margin and its rival, B-91, by a 17% margin. B-91 was an advisory measure that would have instructed the city to consider putting a golf course, wetlands and commercial development on the Hellman property.

Mick Hellman, spokesman for the family that owns the property, said the Hellmans accept the voters’ decision.

“We live in a democracy,” he said. “People have a right to go out and show what they want to have happen with the property. And we have to abide by the decision that the people made.”

Members of Seal Beach Citizens United, which opposed A-91, cheered in the council chambers as the results were announced, congratulating and hugging each other heartily. No one seemed to mind that B-91, the group’s alternative to the Mola proposal, was also defeated by voters.

“As long as A is defeated, who cares? B is meaningless anyway,” said John Watt, a member of Seal Beach Citizens United.

Supporters of A-91 agreed. They attacked B-91 as a bid for “massive commercial development” and said it was placed on the ballot solely to confuse the issue.

People on both sides agreed that Seal Beach voters may have been confused by the flood of campaign mailers on both measures. With increasingly bitter flyers, each side accused the other of proposing plans that would tie up traffic and guzzle water.

Forsythe said she is hoping to put together a committee with equal representation from all five districts to consider the future of the property.

“I want all the opposing sides to get together, get out some blank paper and maybe some crayons and go to work,” she said.

FINAL ELECTION RETURNS

Irvine Measure P 100% Precincts Reporting

Votes % Yes 8,417 63.9 No* 4,762 36.1

Seal Beach Measure A-91 100% Precincts Reporting

Votes % Yes 3,673 37.6 No* 6,087 62.4

Measure B-91

Votes % Yes 3,928 43.4 No* 5,122 56.6

* Required 2/3 approval for passage.

* Winning side of measures is in bold type.