IRVINE : City Conduct of Legal Battle Condemned

The City Council is spending an “outrageous” amount of money suing residents who are trying to stop a proposed residential development and refuses to discuss the cost of the lawsuit, one of the activists complained this week.

Fred Schwartz, co-founder of Irvine Citizens Against Overdevelopment, said he wants the City Council to discuss the $90,887 in legal fees that the city has spent so far in pursuing a lawsuit against him and his group.

The city sued Schwartz and other members of the group to challenge a referendum petition they filed in January to halt the Irvine Co.’s proposed 2,885-home Northwood 5 development. Because the legal wrangle is ongoing, the referendum will not appear on this November’s ballot.

The sum is much higher than the $15,000 in legal costs the city attorney estimated would be required when he recommended filing the lawsuit in January, Schwartz said.

City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said he has received two letters from Schwartz asking him to place the question of the legal fees on the council agenda. But none of the council members wants it on the agenda for further discussion, Brady said.

Any member of the public is free to bring up concerns to the City Council during the regular “public comments” portion of meetings, Brady said. He said he wrote back to Schwartz recommending that he bring up his concerns then.

Schwartz, however, said he wants the legal fees discussed as a regular item because he wants to hear why council members are willing to spend so much money suing their own residents to protect an Irvine Co. development.

During the public comments portion of the council meeting, “they don’t even have to answer you,” he said. “You say your spiel and if you rub them the wrong way, they just say, ‘Thank you.’ ”

The City Council voted to sue the group during a January meeting called to consider whether the referendum on the fate of the proposed Northwood 5 development would be placed before voters.

Then-City Atty. John L. Fellows III questioned whether the council’s decision approving the Northwood 5 development could be the subject of a referendum and recommended that the city seek a court ruling. He estimated the cost of seeking the ruling at $15,000.

A Superior Court judge ruled last month in favor of the city and the Irvine Co., saying the Northwood 5 development decision was not subject to a citizen referendum. The citizens group filed an appeal and is awaiting a hearing.

The cost has been driven up in part by the citizens’ group dragging out the legal proceedings and filing the appeal, Brady said. More money will be spent on the appeal, he said.

Schwartz said the only way the city would have spent $15,000 is “if I had rolled over and played dead” and not defended against the lawsuit.