Slow Growth Wins, Loses in El Segundo

Although a hotly contested growth-control measure went down to defeat in El Segundo on Tuesday, the three winners of City Council seats say their top priority will be to tackle growth issues, perhaps through new legislation.

“The citizens definitely want to do something about density,” said Carl Jacobson, who handily won a second council term. “I think they want to see a council that will work for them and pull this whole town together.”

The election of Jacobson, Scot Dannen and Jim Clutter from a field of seven candidates signals a major shift in philosophy on the five-member council. With the exception of Jacobson, the council has generally been perceived by critics as pro-development. The council now has a clear majority that advocates more controls on growth.

During his campaign, for instance, Dannen said that if he was elected, he would introduce an ordinance that would reduce density levels of new office buildings by 40%. El Segundo is home to several major corporations, whose giant facilities on the city’s east side have been blamed for traffic congestion and other problems.

All three winners were backed by a residents association that favors more development controls in the city.

“We didn’t expect our candidates to do so well,” said Steve Edlefsen, president of the El Segundo Residents Assn., which had been at odds with council members over development issues. “This is a tremendous step forward. The residents have proved they can make a difference.”

The losing candidates were J. B. Wise and Gary Shultz, considered pro-business by the residents association, and Nestor Synadinos and Thomas Jolly, slow-growth advocates.

In the city clerk race, Ronald Hart defeated Richard Fennell by more than a 2-to-1 margin. City Treasurer Louise Eckersley was unopposed for a third consecutive term.

Utility Tax Approved

Voters overwhelmingly approved Measure D, which levies a 2% utility tax on industry. The tax, which is expected to raise as much as $2 million annually and help the city balance its deficit-ridden budget, stirred up little controversy and was expected to pass.

By comparison, Measure C, the growth-control initiative, provoked a flurry of debate. Drafted by the Group United for Residential Rights, a local political action committee, it was opposed by Hughes Aircraft, Rockwell International and several other major El Segundo corporations. The companies spent thousands of dollars to defeat it, and Hughes urged its employees who live in El Segundo to vote against it.

The initiative, which was voted down by a margin of 2,072 to 1,527, would have forced developers to include parking structures when figuring a building’s square footage and would have prohibited zoning changes without voter approval. The measure would have been retroactive to February, 1987.

Councilman Alan West, who is in the middle of a four-year term, as well as several other city officials who gathered at City Hall on Tuesday night, expressed surprise that Measure C went down to defeat while growth-control candidates won the three council seats.

However, Jacobson, Dannen and Clutter said voters were probably concerned about possible legal challenges to the initiative, which some feared could cost the financially strapped city thousands of dollars in attorney bills. Jacobson said the measure’s retroactive clause undoubtedly would have exposed the city to litigation.

‘All-Out Effort’

At Hughes, spokesman Jim Hurt on Wednesday speculated that if there had not been “all-out effort” by the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce to defeat the measure, it might have passed. Hughes and Rockwell each donated $10,000 to the chamber’s political action committee to defeat the measure.

“We were really pleased with the results, of course,” Hurt said. “I think you could say it was a really good campaign waged by . . . the chamber, which represents large and small businesses which care about the city’s economy.”

George Wiley, director of human resources for Rockwell, said the defeat of Measure C and the election of the controlled-growth candidates “hardly adds up.” Rockwell does not “look upon 500 votes as a mandate at all,” he said, referring to Measure C’s margin of defeat.

“The concerns of the citizens are still there, of course.”

Synadinos, who is co-chairman of Group United for Residential Rights, blamed the measure’s defeat on misleading campaign literature distributed by its opponents. Nevertheless, he said, his group does not plan to place another growth initiative on the ballot. The newly elected council members will represent residents on development issues, he said.

“GURR will sit back and watch and make sure no one wavers.”