LAGUNA BEACH

The Festival of Arts board of directors won a big victory Wednesday when a judge denied an appeal of his June 5 decision. That ruling ordered the board to call a meeting of festival members to consider a possible recall of board members.

According to the ruling, the board still has to conduct the meeting, but only to consider whether to have a recall election, not to hold the election on the spot.

Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald, in upholding his previous decision, said he did not want to stray from the festival’s bylaws, which set down the procedure for how a recall election is to be held.

A group of festival exhibitors is trying to use the recall to stop the board from moving the arts institution from its 68-year home in Laguna Beach to a 20-acre site in the Talega development in San Clemente.