DANA POINT : Group Drops Recall Effort Against Eggers

A group of residents who had threatened to mount a recall effort against Councilman Mike Eggers dropped that plan Friday, saying their concerns about the council’s development plans will be addressed publicly as they had hoped.

During a press conference, several members of a group known as Watchdog, burned blank petition forms to symbolize the end of the recall effort that could have provoked a contentious exchange of accusations between the group and Eggers.

“They (council members) have agreed to open forums in which the General Plan can be revised,” said John Bowler, who helped head up the recall effort for Watchdog and who was an unsuccessful candidate for City Council in June. “So we have accomplished our goals and called the thing off.”

Members of the group said they were fearful that the council intended to develop the city into a tourist destination that they said would cause Dana Point to lose its character.

They also claimed that Eggers had blocked efforts to put the city’s General Plan to a citywide vote.

Eggers said that “no deals or guarantees” were made by him or the council to facilitate ceasing the group’s recall efforts.

“Obviously, I am very pleased that they decided to stop this ill-fated and ill-advised recall effort,” he said. “It would have been very, very divisive to the community.”

Before Friday’s announcement, Eggers said he had begun preparations to mount a counterattack against the group, but he has now abandoned those efforts.

“They must have been convinced that open forums would give them their voice,” Eggers said. “But the council decided a long time ago that there would be amendments to the (general) plan.”

He said any changes to the General Plan would be discussed publicly, probably before the end of the year.

For a recall vote to be held, the petitioners would have had to collect 3,581 signatures, or 20% of the city’s registered voters, by Nov. 3.

It was unclear how many signatures had been collected before the campaign was ended Friday.