New Council Rescinds OK of El Segundo General Plan : Development: The document had been approved just hours before by the outgoing council. New members said they want time to review it.

The winds of change swept through El Segundo City Hall on Tuesday night, when the City Council’s newly elected members took their seats and promptly rescinded approval of the city’s General Plan, given just hours before by outgoing council members.

As expected, incumbent Mayor Carl Jacobson and newcomers Richard Switz and Michael Robbins--all three elected April 14 after campaigning on a slow-growth platform--combined to swing the council’s majority against the proposed General Plan, a document intended to guide the city’s residential and commercial development over the next 20 years.

Voting against reconsidering the plan were Councilmen Alan West and J. B. Wise.

“The bottom line is we have a voter mandate here,” Robbins said. “The General Plan is not community-driven and it is supposed to be community-driven.”

Before the new council was sworn in, the outgoing council had voted 5-0 to approve the General Plan.

New council members said they do not intend to scrap the plan but rather want a chance to revise it if necessary. Jacobson said the council, after spending more than four years and $300,000 developing the plan, should feel completely satisfied before giving final approval.

Opponents say the plan allows for too much high-density residential development, and many object to its proposal to allow townhouses or condominiums on two surplus school sites. The plan became a major issue in the election, which saw incumbent Janice Cruikshank, a proponent of the plan, go down in defeat.

The move infuriated outgoing Councilman Scot D. Dannen, a General Plan supporter who did not seek reelection. Dannen vehemently defended the plan during his last moments on the council and then took the rostrum twice, after stepping down, to address the new council.

“To simply, arbitrarily rescind this plan--to my mind that is irresponsible,” Dannen said.

Dannen added that rejecting the plan would be a slap in the face of the business community, which he said has worked well with the city and paid millions of dollars for civic improvements. He estimated that the city, by continuing to operate under its current plan, could face up to $1 million in costs from lawsuits, lost economic opportunity and additional staff and consulting fees.

“The problem is,” Dannen said, “the longer you drag out the process, the longer business does not know what to do.”

Jacobson said Dannen overestimated the cost of delaying approval.

“We’re not going to go back to scratch, as we were accused of doing. That’s not the intention,” Jacobson said. “We had an election. The General Plan was definitely an issue in the election, and the voters spoke.”

Jacobson said he will propose sending the plan to the Planning Commission for further public input. Switz said he would like a 90-day waiting period to allow time for him and Robbins to examine the plan.