Art Festival Move Still Alive

A Superior Court judge denied a request Wednesday from Festival of Arts members to immediately bar the board from moving the famed summer institution to San Clemente.

The court will decide April 14 whether the festival board has the right to negotiate a lease with San Clemente.

“I’m delighted,” said festival President Sherri M. Butterfield. “Our only obligation is to support the arts in Laguna Beach and have our headquarters in Orange County. There’s no reason why it can’t be outside of Laguna Beach while still supporting arts there.”

Six festival members were listed as plaintiffs in the temporary restraining order.

They allege that the board is illegally negotiating with San Clemente for a new lease because the nonprofit organization’s articles of incorporation stipulate that the show must be “in or about the city of Laguna Beach.”

Butterfield contends that the festival meets that obligation by remaining in Orange County.

The members also submitted to the festival administration a petition with 300 signatures seeking a board recall election. Festival bylaws require at least 220 signatures--10% of the organization’s 2,200 Orange County members.

Bruce Rasner, a festival member who is part of the lawsuit, said the group is seeking removal of seven of the eight board members, excluding David Young, who has opposed the move.

“I don’t think [the board is] being exactly fair, and I disagree,” said Young, who has served on the board for 45 years. “I feel the board had the opportunity to make a settlement with the city on three occasions, and they didn’t.”

Members have another petition with 1,000 signatures from Laguna Beach residents who are against the move, Rasner said.

Rasner said he believes the festival board has not been honest with its members.

“They are trying to keep everyone at bay while they negotiate a deal with San Clemente,” he said.

But Stuart Christiansen, an exhibitor at the festival, said ousting the board is not the answer. Members’ anger “should be directed at the City Council for taking all the funds we raised this summer.”

Board members were notified of the court action Tuesday, Rasner said.

The operators of the 68-year-old organization have clashed with the city over how much rent the festival must pay and who will control money set aside for improving the aging festival grounds in Laguna Beach. Its lease on the 5.6-acre site that includes the Irvine Bowl expires in September 2001.

The board went into a 90-day exclusive negotiation period with San Clemente on Feb. 2 for a 20-acre site there.

San Clemente Mayor Susan Ritschel said the judge’s decision was a “relief,” because the city may now “continue our negotiations in good faith with the board.”

“As far as the signatures go, you never know if they are valid. That remains to be seen,” Ritschel said.