Anaheim City Council votes 4 to 1 to place SunCal Zoning change on June 3rd ballot

[Darkbeer]

The Anaheim City Council voted 4 to 1, with Ms. Galloway being opposed to place the proposed zoning change on the June 3rd, 2008 ballot, which is a scheduled State Primary.

Other initiatives, including the SOAR initiative, that needs to be submitted by the middle to end of September (per the Anaheim City Attorney, Jack White, no specific date was mentioned) might end up on the same ballot.

[Darkbeer]

Interesting News Article from Tuesday afternoon, PRIOR to the council meeting...

http://www.ocregister.com/news/disne...eting-galloway

Last-minute talks fail with Disney


Galloway said Monday's meeting included officials from Disney, SunCal and the two other home developers. Her request required:

• Disney's commitment to lead a fund-raising effort with other businesses to contribute $25 million for affordable housing units over five years.

• Negotiations with three developers to remove their land from the Anaheim Resort boundaries so they could build homes there.

• Reduction of homes on the SunCal property and inclusion of other uses.

• Dropping of the lawsuit.

"It was my attempt at an honorable resolution so the city could move forward," Galloway said.

Frank Elfend, SunCal's consultant, said he was open to the ideas. "I think she had several elements which would have benefited both parties," Elfend said.

Sorry, but those "requirements" are way too one sided.

[DisneyMickey]

What does it mean 4-1?

[Darkbeer]

It means that out of the 5 city council persons (which includes the Mayor as one vote), every council member voted for the issue to be placed on the June 3rd ballot except Ms. Galloway.

A replay of the entire meeting can be found at www.anaheim.net

[Disneymike]

Anybody notice that Frank Elfand of Suncal looks like Capt Barbossa???

[Darkbeer]

http://www.ocregister.com/news/disne...alloway-suncal

Voters will decide June 3 whether to allow homes on a plot near Disneyland, bringing to the ballot an issue that has drawn worldwide attention.

After two delays and failed efforts to reach a compromise, the City Council on Tuesday chose an election date for a referendum to overturn residential zoning in the Anaheim Resort area, previously reserved for tourism.

The vote was 4-1, with Councilwoman Lorri Galloway dissenting. Galloway wanted to wait to set an election date so it could go on the same ballot as another proposed Disney-backed initiative, which would require voter approval of all resort housing plans. Signatures have yet to be submitted and are due by Sept. 21.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...-pe-california

Dozens of residents on both sides of the controversy had urged that the referendum be placed on the ballot. Patrick Pepper, a SOAR member, threatened to initiate a recall of council members and a grand jury investigation if the matter were further delayed.

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Pepper said.

Another resident following him to the podium added: "What's going on here? It's like mafia tactics."

[PumpkinKing!]

WOW this is extremly interesting. So now its come down to the Anaheim residents vote? I mean I am all for more affordable housing but what exactly does that entail? I also would love to see the DL resort expanded to its full potential... but should it? Where can we get more info?

[Disneymike]

Originally Posted by PumpkinKing!

WOW this is extremly interesting. So now its come down to the Anaheim residents vote? I mean I am all for more affordable housing but what exactly does that entail? I also would love to see the DL resort expanded to its full potential... but should it? Where can we get more info?

Why shouldn't the DL resort expand if it is in the resort district and Disney owns the property?

[themur]

Isn't this the SunCal initiative? Sounds like they still get their item before the voters without having to do the heavy lifting of gathering signature to qualify the matter for the ballot.

[Darkbeer]

OK, search here with the word "zoning" and you will find a lot of info regarding this matter.

The Referendum that was approved for placement on the ballot is based on the Zoning Change that the Council approved for the Mobile Park Land. The Referendum was to have the citizens disagree with the council's action. Once the 10% requirement was gathered and submitted, then the council's actions was placed on hold. Now the council has set an election on the matter, which will have the citizens vote on June 3rd, if 50% plus 1 of the voters decide to agree with the referendum (that the city council zoning change be overturned), then the zoning change is cancelled. If SunCal wants to try again, they can propose a different plan and start right away, but from the beginning in front of the zoning commission, or they can wait at least one year, and start over with the exact same plan.

Now, one of the reasons the city council picked the June ballot instead of the February ballot was to allow one, if not two more matters to be placed on the ballot. One is expected to be filed between now and September 21st. SOAR (the Disney backed group) has already started to gather the 15% signature requirement, and claims they have gotten enough signatures to submit (and have not been actively seeking signatures). This initiative would require a vote by the public for any zoning change in the entire current Resort area that would be different than the current approved uses in the area (basically commercial and tourist related uses, such as hotels, restaurants, shops and entertainment). The council will more than likely place the issue on the June ballot if it is found they have enough valid signatures.

The possible third item would be another initiative that would deal specifically the "Strawberry Field" property that Disney owns. CDPA (the SunCal developer backed proposal) wants this on the ballot, in which any use other than the current parking and farming uses be approved by the voters. IMHO this is just a spite vote, in fact I even have asked a CDPA employee (Jubal aka Matt Cunningham over at the OC Blog) why this ballot initiative would help or improve the city of Anaheim and its citizens. Of course, there is no good answer. Also, CDPA is trying to get out of gathering the 15% signature requirement and get the City Council to just place it on the ballot. If the city council does this, people have stated they will take the matter to the Grand Jury to look into favoritism to the developer in this entire matter, and SunCal has had a lot of "favors" so far in getting this approved so far. If the CDPA initiative gets approved in time (about 3 months in advance as a minimum) so by February, it will also go on the June ballot, which is what CDPA wants, to help "confuse" voters over all 3 measures.

It is going to be an interesting 8 months.

[Darkbeer]

Here are a few thought and comments about info I gathered from watching the Public Comments and Council Debate about the Referendum to overturn the council's zoning change.

Public comments for the Zoning change (Item #54) started just after 5:30 PM.

One of the earlier speakers made the point this really isn't about Disney, but about a zoning change that approved High Density Housing in the area.

The Anaheim Zoning Commission denied the zoning change, and only by the City Council taking the matter up (on their own) and then overturning the zoning commission has the item gotten this far.

One of the heads of the Orange County Tax Association makes the point that the zoning change breaks the deal made back in 1994 to make the area commercial and to help all the businesses in the area.

I have to give kudos to Larry, who came up to speak to the council. He stated he is a Jungle Cruise skipper, and talked about the benefits of what Disney has done for Anaheim. He also spent the majority of time addressing the public, not the council members. I was impressed with how he handled his short time at the podium (max of 3 minutes). Once again, Larry... way to go!

A Building Union member came up and stated that 11 different unions are against the zoning change. He stated the unions are in favor of affordable housing, but not in this location. He stated that he thought this zoning change was all about Money, Greed and was a Land Grab for SunCal.

Another speaker talked about how a lot of this has been a Smoke Screen, and a personal agenda is driving the real issue.

The Co-Chair of SOAR brought up the fact of future dollars, and how Garden Grove has been getting a lot of the business that Anaheim could have gotten if they would have solidly stood behind the entire Resort Area. (Such as new hotels, restaurants and shops).

The Mayor brought up the fact just prior to the main council meeting, they were having a dealing with affordable housing for the City of Anaheim, and that 1,429 units were currently under construction in the city.

I presume there will be some quiet periods in the next few months, but we know the following will happen.

SOAR will submit its Initiative signatures for verification in the next month (prior to September 21st). And if they have enough valid signatures, then the matter will go in front of the City Council (and more public comments) for placement on a ballot.

The CDPA has to figure out what to do with there "Strawberry Field" initiative, and what to do. Do they submit it directly to the City Council for placement on the ballot without the need to gather signatures. And does the City Council approve it. And if they do, how strong is the case for favoritism against the council? And does that threat keep the city council from placing it on the ballot without signatures.

And if CDPA decides to bypass the council, or if the council refuses to place the initiative on the ballot without signatures, what does CDPA decide to do?

They could either drop the 3rd matter, and just focus its time, money and effort on getting the two SOAR matters defeated in June, or do they spend Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to get the required 15% of registered voters signatures. And can they get enough signatures in the 6 month period. If they attempt to gather signatures, then there will be ongoing ad campaigns on both sides, and of course plenty of news stories and press releases from both sides. So that will keep the story going straight thru until June.

But if the council waives the signature requirement, or if CDPA decides to drop the Strawberry Field measure, then things will quiet down in the next couple of months until after Easter, when the two groups both kick the ad campaigning into high gear for the June election.

Whatever happens, it will be interesting to watch....

[DisneyMickey]

This is going to bite Anaheim in the *** if they are not careful.

[Darkbeer]

Well, SOAR filed the initiative signatures today, over 30,000 or about 10,000 more than needed, so here is hoping at least 2/3'rds are valid. We should know in the next week or two if the Register of Voters confirms that the petitions have enough valid signatures.

[techskip]

This has shaped up to be extremely interesting mainly because it is Disney screaming foul... and rightly so! I look back to earlier times when the city was Pro-Disney and everything appeared to be favored to their side! Strange how sometimes things turn... ironic really.

In any event I would like to see an infrastructure impact report from both proposals. The housing development would have more people living in the area and probably clog the streets and surrounding area, however the 3rd gate would have more people there on a regular basis and could also cripple the area just as easily.

[RumRunner31]

Originally Posted by techskip

In any event I would like to see an infrastructure impact report from both proposals. The housing development would have more people living in the area and probably clog the streets and surrounding area, however the 3rd gate would have more people there on a regular basis and could also cripple the area just as easily.

Agreed - I'd like to see this too. Thing is, you've also got to look at which would do more FOR the infrastructure - a housing development or a new theme park. For instance: if Disney builds a third gate a little ways away from its' first two, the chances are pretty good that they'll invest in the infrastructure in the area (again) to make sure people can get from one to the other easily. Now ask yourself if a housing developer has any need or desire to do that?