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Arcadia Council Does Not Pursue Ballot Initiative on Homebuilding Rules
Arcadia Weekly Dec 23, 2015
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The petition campaign has collected more than 2,000 signatures, April Verlato estimates – Photo by Terry Miller
Measure by Residents Group Will Not Qualify for April Election
By Joe Taglieri
As the city’s effort to update the zoning code continues into the new year, the Arcadia city council briefly considered sponsoring its own voter initiative to rival a measure from residents that is currently the subject of a petition to qualify for an upcoming election ballot.
However, at a study session last week council members decided to not pursue the option of putting together their own measure aimed at revamping construction regulations. This was due primarily to a recent announcement that the petition process will not conclude in time to qualify the residents’ measure for the city’s April ballot.
The 30-day period in which county officials verify petition signatures and the city’s subsequent 30-day deadline to review the potential impacts of an approved measure will not leave enough time to get the necessary 3,000-plus signatures then officially place the initiative on the next ballot, said April Verlato from Saving Arcadia, the group sponsoring the proposed legislation.
The April election’s deadline for ballot content is Jan. 15, and the petitioners have until Feb. 24, 2016 to begin the county’s signature verification, Verlato said. At that point the initiative could be eligible for the November election.
“If there was going to be a citizens’ initiative on the [April] ballot, then there may be consideration that there should be a city initiative,” Council Member Mickey Segal said in an interview.
Earlier this month Segal suggested the study session item, which he withdrew after the consensus among members clearly indicated the common desire to continue focusing on the zoning code update effort that hinges on a recently formed advisory committee comprised of residents and real estate professionals.
“It isn’t going to be on this ballot,” Segal said. “So let the committee doing the rezoning do their job and come back with a recommendation, and we’ll see what happens. … Everybody should just let this committee do their thing; they just might have a solution.”
Segal explained his concern that Saving Arcadia’s measure might hinder the advisory committee’s work.
“If the initiative is going to get in the way, then I thought maybe we better put another [measure] on there,” he said. “But now we don’t need to.”
The petition campaign has collected more than 2,000 signatures, Verlato estimated.
In response to what some residents claim is city officials’ failure to reign in the local “mansionization” trend, the proposed measure seeks to enact rules for design that will increasingly limit the size of new homes.
A key point of contention among critics of the voter initiative is that more stringently limiting the size on newly built homes will lead to a citywide decline in property value.
The council’s advisory committee consists of Ernie Boehr from the Lower Rancho homeowner association (HOA), developers Eric Chen and Phillip Chan, attorney Mark Hong, Upper Rancho HOA appointee Sanjay Kucheria, Planning Commissioner Debra Lewis, journalist Mike Lucas, Jack Lynch from Santa Anita Oaks HOA, South Arcadia residents John Mynster and Ed Winter, real estate professional Tommy Thai, Laurie Thompson from Santa Anita Village HOA, architect Robert Tong, Highlands HOA appointee April Verlato, and real estate appraiser Lilly Yeong Yamada.
The committee, members of which were appointed by city officials, will meet regularly starting in January with the goal of generating policy recommendations for council members to consider.
In November officials organized two community meetings to gauge public sentiment on real estate issues.
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