Costa Mesa : Ruling Withheld on Slow-Growth Challenge

A Superior Court judge on Monday withheld judgment on the latest legal challenge to a voter-approved slow-growth measure--this one in Costa Mesa.

Judge William F. Rylaarsdam said he needed time to review arguments in the controversial case before deciding whether city officials in Costa Mesa can move ahead with plans to make new developments contingent on improvements in existing public services.

Judges have thrown out slow-growth measures in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano that were found to place an unfair and unconstitutional burden on developers and property-owners to solve citywide problems that they had not necessarily created.

Costa Mesa officials maintain, however, that Measure G--as their slow-growth initiative is known--is narrower than those approved by voters in San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, and that it marks a legitimate effort to respond to demands on strained city resources.

But Jeffrey Thomas, attorney for the Building and Industry Assn., said: “Our position is that any differences between this initiative and the ones already struck down are cosmetic and insignificant.

“On the most important issue--traffic--(the initiatives) are exactly the same, except Costa Mesa’s measure may be even more stringent,” he contended.