Ordinance vote postponed

Bryce Alderton

The City Council held off on a final vote to repeal a city ordinance

Monday night for fear of breaking the law.

Two weeks ago the council voted to repeal a city ordinance that

designated a portion of land between Ellis and Garfield avenues and

Edwards and Goldenwest streets be used for a neighborhood park.

Council backed off its initial decision Monday night, postponing the

final vote until April 1.

The delay will give the council added time to hear legal opinions

about the fate of the five-acre site designated for a park in 1995.

The repeal is part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by four

property owners who sued the city in Orange County Superior Court in

1995. The owners allege the city took 10 parcels of their land without

just compensation.

As part of the settlement, the city agreed to pay a total of $75,000

and give the land back to the property owners.

But residents claim that repealing the ordinance cannot be done

without a vote, thanks to Measure C.

Measure C, was an initiative approved by voters in 1990 that amended

the city’s charter to state that no public utility, park or beach owned

or operated by the city can be sold, leased, exchanged or transferred

without the council and voters’ approval.

Council members now fear moving forward with the agreed upon

settlement.

“I’m concerned that if we go ahead, then we’re going to end up coming

under legal attack in violation of Measure C,” said Councilwoman Connie

Boardman.

Proponents of the park measure say Boardman’s fear is not unfounded.

“We will do everything that is necessary to protecting Measure C,”

said Dave Sullivan, a former Huntington Beach mayor and coauthor of the

measure. “That is a park. It’s designated as a park in the Specific Plan.

A 5-year-old knows what a park is.”

But City Atty. Gail Hutton claims that Measure C doesn’t apply to the

10 parcels in question because the plots are not a public park or beach

owned or operated by the city. The city’s individual parcels are within

an oil field, not a park, she said.

“No soil was turned to develop. It was a park in concept only,” Hutton

said.