GOOD OLD DAYS:

In 1976, while America was picking a new president, about 30,000 Costa Mesa voters also decided the fate of property occupied by just a single-family home.

Even these days, in a political climate fraught with contentious struggles, it’s hard to imagine one home being at the center of a citywide ballot initiative. A special election was even called to decide the matter.

At issue was a small piece of property right next to what was then Nabers Cadillac on Harbor Boulevard. The dealership wanted more space to work and requested that the city rezone the property to allow it to be used commercially, but the neighbors thought a bigger car dealership would mean more people test driving cars through their streets.

“There was quite a bit of furor and neighbors really wanted that property [to remain a house],” said then- Councilman Jack Hammett.

When the issue first came before the city council, Hammett was one of two councilmen who voted against transforming the property into commercial land, but he was overruled by a council majority that favored it.

Incensed residents then started circulating a petition for a referendum to give the voters the option of accepting or rejecting the council’s decision. More than 10% of registered voters signed it and 28,851 people turned out on Nov. 2, 1976, according to City Clerk Julie Folcik.

They overturned the council’s decision, and the property was kept residential.

At that point, City Manager Allan Roeder was just starting out, doing “grunt work” in the public works department. He still remembers the conflict.

“I think the interesting point is the fact that you would end up with something on the ballot as small as a single residence,” Roeder said.

At the time, when Costa Mesa was relatively young, industrial and commercial businesses were trying to develop in the city.

The incident was harbinger of a larger trend that came to a head in the 1980s, Roeder said. Neighbors began to become very concerned with businesses encroaching on their areas and bringing with them cut-through traffic, noise and other frustrations.

“Within 10 years you had candidates running for election on growth and development and on the impact of growth and development in the community, which I think was a relatively new issue for the time,” Roeder said.

The politicians realized the importance of having businesses to create a steady tax base, and most elected officials were conservative, Hammett said. But it was difficult measuring the benefits of more commerce against the possible detriment of development.

“We really went through some problems trying to mold the city into something for the future,” Hammett said. “We would look really carefully at the impact of development, and with our little staff and little knowledge we built a pretty good city.”

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].