Activists continue tradition

As a rural community aspiring to cityhood more than 40 years ago and as a growing, mid-sized Orange County municipality today, Yorba Linda is no stranger to courtroom litigation promising to have a dramatic impact on the city’s future development.

Fortunately, most of the court cases have been decided in the best interests of residents, who chose to live in Yorba Linda because of the good schools and low-density lifestyle.

The first legal battle began in 1963 and took four years to reach a conclusion. Three residents--Buel Enyeart, Paul Gibbs and Fred Johnson--asked a Superior Court judge to order a stubborn county Board of Supervisors to set a date for an incorporation election.

After the judge upheld the county’s decision against a ballot, attorney and early resident Jim Erickson guided Yorba Linda’s legal fight for cityhood through various courts, until a unanimous state Supreme Court finally authorized an election in 1967.

The favorable incorporation vote and the 1972 General Plan established Yorba Linda as a low-density city, which wouldn’t have happened under county planning authority or if various annexation attempts by Anaheim, Brea and Placentia had been successful.

This week’s court ruling will allow residents to vote on the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land Use Amendments initiative on June 6. If approved, voters will decide whether or not to alter the city’s major planning documents, rather than City Council members who don’t always deliver on the promises they make to win a seat at the dais.

In the current case, City Clerk Kathie Mendoza was the plaintiff, petitioning the court to invalidate the initiative, while the council was the respondent, supposedly defending its October 2005 decision to place the initiative on the ballot.

However, according to a city press release, the council actually supported Mendoza’s filing. Of course, taxpayers will foot the bills for the city’s attorneys on both sides.

And again, as in the 1960s, residents can thank three individuals--initiative organizers Jim Horton, Dennis Wilson and Jeff Winter--for hiring the lawyers who argued for keeping the initiative on the ballot.

This isn’t the first time a council has acted against residents’ best interests in a legal dispute. In 1999, Placentia-Yorba Linda school district officials had to sue the city’s Redevelopment Agency to obtain revenues promised under a 1983 agreement.

After a ruling supporting the school district, current council members voted to appeal before finally agreeing to a settlement. The city’s legal tab totaled nearly $2 million.

These unwarranted legal actions and unnecessary expenses should rile enough residents to become an important issue this November, when incumbents Ken Ryan and Keri Wilson seek new council terms.

A FINAL NOTE--Jim Erickson was appointed Yorba Linda’s first City Attorney soon after his courtroom success in the fight for cityhood in 1967. One of his first actions was to give the five fledgling council members instructions on the “art of talking to the press.”

As a general rule reporters ask questions that would be embarrassing to the Council or they raise issues that will sell papers. Smile a lot and don’t say much,” Erickson advised, according to the minutes of the final Steering Committee for Incorporation meeting.