Ojai Writes to County on Landfill Question : Ballot: The city believes it can show that the petition that would put the issue to the voters in November violates the elections code.

Moving closer to a legal challenge of the Weldon Canyon landfill initiative, Ojai officials will notify Ventura County today that they believe a petition submitted to qualify the measure for the November ballot does not comply with the elections code.

Meeting in closed session Tuesday night, the City Council voted to ask its attorney to write to county officials to tell them that the petition submitted by Taconic Resources should not be certified by the county clerk because it violates election law “on a number of procedural and legal grounds.”

The measure, which last week apparently qualified for the November ballot with nearly twice the number of signatures needed, has long been opposed by Ojai city officials, who have promised a legal battle to stop the construction of a 551-acre dump near the mouth of the Ojai Valley.

Ojai city officials declined to reveal their legal strategy Wednesday, but in a prepared statement said “the measure as presented is clearly invalid and should not be placed on the ballot.”

The city’s move follows on the heels of decisions by Ventura city officials and the Board of Supervisors to oppose the measure. The Ventura City Council is considering joining neighboring Ojai in its legal fight.

Ojai city officials said their letter to County Clerk Richard D. Dean outlining the basis of their argument will be sent today.

“It would be my assumption that if the clerk was convinced that there were legal grounds, and I think those will be spelled out in the letter, (he could) decline to certify,” said City Councilwoman Nina Shelley.

But Dean said Wednesday that although he hadn’t seen the letter he doubted that the city’s concerns would interfere with the petition’s certification.

“I don’t know of anything that would prevent us from certifying the petition,” he said. “I see that as a decision for the courts.”

Lawyers for both Ojai and the county have said they believe the measure would probably not stand up in court. In a memo circulated last week, County Counsel James L. McBride questioned whether the initiative was legally valid, saying it goes further than the law allows in granting planning powers to voters and would improperly amend county zoning laws.

But proponents of the measure said they are certain it is legal.

“Our lawyers have experience in this arena,” said Richard Chase, general partner of Taconic Resources, the San Diego County-based firm that proposed the measure and has negotiated a lease for the Weldon Canyon land. “We feel it is perfectly legal and if approved by the voters will be effective.

“Obviously we would not be spending a lot of money to enact a measure that is legally invalid,” Chase said. “We would not go to the trouble of putting it on the ballot unless we were very confident that it was valid.”

Taconic has estimated the company is prepared to spend $1 million in its pursuit of a ballot initiative. The measure has been widely backed by communities in east Ventura County, but opposed by the west county cities of Ojai and Ventura, which are closest to the proposed site.

“They’ve made it clear from the beginning they don’t want a vote,” Chase said Wednesday. In terms of a legal challenge, he added: “I don’t think they have any basis for their actions.”