An initiative petition seeking to enact a City law regulating certain land use changes filed by residents Dale Tyler and Connie Lee was reviewed Monday by City Clerk Karen Hamman to determine if sufficient signatures were present to move the documents to the next step.
Hamman spent nearly six hours verifying that the petition – which contained 10,995 signatures – had the minimum number of signatures required to advance the documents to the County Registrar of Voters for confirmation of the legitimacy of the signatures. The petition, also called the “Mission Viejo Right to Vote” initiative, seeks to require voter consent on major changes in the City’s land use, except those pertaining to state and local law housing actions that implement housing needs.
For the “Vote on Private and Public Property Land Use Regulation Initiative,” 6,142 signatures would qualify the ordinance for the next General Election. It would take 9,213 valid signatures to send it to voters in a special election.
When the County’s verification process is complete, the City Council can either adopt the ordinance at a regular council meeting or order a special election. The council also has the option of ordering a report on the effect of the proposed initiative and either adopting the ordinance within 10 days or sending it before voters in a regular or special election.
Verifying the signatures will cost the City roughly $31,300 or $3.40 per signature. A special election would cost the City of Mission Viejo more than $226,800. The funding will come from revenue to the City from taxpayer contributions to the City’s General Fund.
