SAN CLEMENTE : Council Settles Final Measure B Lawsuit

Nearly six years after voters limited the city’s growth to 500 new residential units a year, the City Council last week finally laid to rest the last lawsuit challenging slow-growth Measure B.

In a unanimous vote, the council approved a settlement with the Lusk Co., developer of the Marblehead inland and coastal communities.

The company owns about 250 acres of undeveloped property on the ocean side of Interstate 5.

Under the agreement, the Marblehead partnership agreed to drop the lawsuit but retained the right to file an identical lawsuit for up to three years.

“The idea is, it allows both sides to walk away from the litigation,” attorney Hans Van Ligten, who represented the city in the lawsuit, said Monday. “It was just a waste of money to go to court every six months.”

Lusk Co. officials could not be reached for comment.

City Atty. Jeffrey M. Oderman said the chances of the developer filing another lawsuit are low, especially since the company is planning only about 300 single-family homes on the coastal property still affected by the measure.

Also, Marblehead has never been denied the chance to build any homes in the past because of Measure B, he said.

“We are hopeful that the settlement agreement will bring an end to all litigation challenging the validity of Measure B,” Oderman said in a report to the City Council. “Under the circumstances, we believe that the city has everything to gain and nothing to lose by signing the settlement agreement as negotiated.”

Council members said they were relieved to avoid a potentially costly court trial.

“It’s nice to finally get this behind us,” Councilman Scott Diehl said.

Soon after voters approved Measure B in 1986, three development companies filed separate lawsuits, saying that the measure was an unconstitutional infringement of their property rights.

The lawsuits also sought about $250 million in damages from the city.

A lawsuit involving the 1,770-acre Forster Ranch community, initially filed by Estrella Properties, was dismissed in 1989 under an agreement reached between the city and the new property owner, Centex Development Corp.

A second suit, involving the 2,000-acre Rancho San Clemente development, was dismissed when the holdings of Phoenix-based Western Savings were taken over by the Resolution Trust Corp.