LOS ALAMITOS : Redevelopment Vote Petition Rejected

A petition calling for a vote on a city redevelopment plan has been ruled invalid because the plan was not shown to petition signers.

City Clerk Robert C. Dunek’s rejection of the referendum petition last week means the redevelopment plan approved by the City Council in July remains in effect.

Bill Daniels, chairman of Citizens for Fair Government, which collected the petition signatures, said the group will decide in the next few days whether it will sue the city in an attempt to force an election on the redevelopment issue.

Meanwhile, council members said they will consider what to do next regarding redevelopment. They acknowledged that among their options is to go ahead and hold an election, even though the petition was rejected.

“I don’t know how much dissatisfaction is out there, but I intend to find out before I make any more decisions” about redevelopment, Councilman Anthony R. Selvaggi said.

At a public hearing last week, several people voiced their opinions on redevelopment to the council. While the speakers were almost evenly split on whether the plan would be good or bad, most agreed that the city should hold a vote on the issue.

“I’ve lived here for longer than most, and this is the first time I can recall that something that affects the city has not been put to a vote,” resident Teresa Gonzalez said.

The referendum petition was rejected because City Atty. Thomas W. Allen and Costa Mesa attorney Thomas C. Wood found that courts in similar situations have ruled that signers of referendum petitions must be “fully informed of the substance of the ordinance,” Dunek said.

In this case, both attorneys found that because the petition was not accompanied by redevelopment plan maps and other information, prospective signers of the petition could not have been fully informed.

Wood was also asked to review the matter because Allen felt his position with the city made it necessary to seek “outside objective opinion” on the validity of the petition.

A letter was sent to Citizens for Fair Government by Dunek last week informing them of the attorneys’ findings.

The county registrar of voters had verified 823 signatures on the referendum petition, well above the 10% of registered voters, or 536 signatures, required to force the vote.

In July the council, acting as the newly created Redevelopment Agency, unanimously approved Los Alamitos’ first redevelopment plan area, concentrated in the city’s commercial and industrial center along Katella Avenue and Los Alamitos Boulevard.

Citizens for Fair Government was formed to challenge the redevelopment plans. Of particular concern to the group was that the redevelopment agency could invoke eminent domain--forcing people to give up property they do not want to sell--with a simple majority vote.