59% OF DANA POINT VOTERS PASSED MEASURE H AND HERE’S AN UPDATE OF WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
- CERTIFICATION OF ELECTION: The OC Registrar of Voters sends the city certification of the election results and must do this no later than the 4th Friday after the election but with a primary, it may take less time. We will keep on top of this and see when the city gets the certification.
- DECLARE THE VOTE: After receipt of the certification, the city council must meet at the next regularly scheduled city council meeting, declare the vote and accept the results. The city council could hold a special meeting for this purpose which could be faster. The council’s next scheduled meeting is June 21 and an agenda must be posted only 72 hours before the meeting. Special meetings can be called by the Mayor, or by a majority of Council Members and requires only 24 hours advance notice, meaning a special meeting with one agenda item can be accomplished quickly. We will be watching to see that the council does not “slow walk” the declaration of vote or cancel regularly scheduled meetings with some excuse to avoid the declaration. We will report back to you on the city council’s actions on this.
- CITY ACTIONS PENDING MEASURE H’S IMPLEMENTATION: There is a rumor that at 5:00 p.m. on election night June 7, the city issued some type of permit to Raintree. When we went to the city on June 8 to investigate and see if a permit was issued, a supervisor intervened and told us that we could not view the file or see the permit (which is public information). Instead, we were required to fill out a form to request the file. The city has 10 days to make the file available or say why it is not available for viewing. We will keep you posted on that too. Issuing a permit could be a mechanism to allow Raintree to try to circumvent the voters’ will and Measure H. We will let you know once we have more information on this.
- COASTAL COMMISSION: The Coastal Commission approved the 2008 Town Center Plan 8 years ago. But when the city council overrode the Planning Commission’s denial of the Majestic project, supporters of the 2008 Town Center Plan decided to write a ballot measure (Measure H). Measure H reinstates the Town Center Plan (TCP) along with amendments to close loopholes used to approve the Majestic plan. Because the city council did not follow the 2008 TCP and forced voters to amend the TCP, the amended TCP must go back to the Coastal Commission. We have been in touch with the Coastal Commission and following this process.
- CITY SHOULD REQUEST EXPEDITED COASTAL COMMISSION REVIEW: Measure H’s amendments to the TCP do NOT change the TCP that was already approved by the CC, and Measure H is consistent with CC policies. Therefore, the city should comply with certain publishing and posting procedures AND ask the CC to determine that Measure H is de minimis (which means insignificant), that Measure H would have no impact on coastal resources, and that Measure H is consistent with CC policies. The CC executive director then has 10 working days to determine whether Measure H is de minimis. We will be watching and reporting on how the city handles Measure H with the CC.
We will keep you posted on any new developments as they occur and many thanks for the tremendous support of getting Measure H passed!