Three sweeping growth measures in three very different parts of the state - two measures seeking to tightly control development and one growth-friendly plan - all lost during the March 2 primary election. Voters in San Diego and San Benito counties overwhelmingly rejected growth-control general plan amendments. In El Dorado County, voters said no to approving an entire general plan via initiative. Elsewhere, Contra Costa County voters rejected a big-box law. San Marcos voters said no to Wal-Mart.
Development supporters fared better than slow-growth advocates during November's off-year election with few land use ballot measures. The pro-growth side won seven of the ten measures on local ballots that had obvious growth implications.
Land-use ballot measures for November 2000. Alameda County Voters approved the Sierra Club's urban growth boundary initiative drawing draw a tight urban limit line around Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, Sunol and Castro Valley. Voters rejected the competing Tri-Valley Vision 2010 measure, a less-restrictive UGB placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors. Measure D (Sierra Club initiative): Yes, 56.5% Measure C (Vision 2010 plan): No, 56.9% County voters approved a 20-year extension of a hal...
Stimulated by the success of Ventura County's SOAR initiatives, citizens � and some City Councils � throughout the state are placing growth restrictions on the local ballot in increasing numbers. Four growth-control initiatives are scheduled for the November ballot, including three sponsored by the Citizens' Alliance for Public Planning, or CAPP, a Pleasanton-based citizen organization active in the Tri-Valley area of eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Up to eight measures may appear n...
In a reversal of recent trends, ballot initiatives to restrict growth appear to be on the upswing - especially in Southern California, where few ballot measures have appeared in recent years. The hotbeds of controversy appear to be in Ventura and San Diego counties, which have historically had more "ballot-box zoning" than other parts of Southern California. In Ventura County, slow-growthers have mounted a coordinated November effort to pass urban growth boundaries in six cities as well as a voter ap...