As expected, the county resident trying to enact the Growth
Control Initiative through the legal system has filed her case with
the state Court of Appeal.
San Juan Bautista’s Rebecca McGovern and her lawyers from the
nonprofit environmental firm Earthjustice filed a
”
writ of mandate
”
with the Court of Appeal in San Jose, one step from the
California Supreme Court.
As expected, the county resident trying to enact the Growth Control Initiative through the legal system has filed her case with the state Court of Appeal.
San Juan Bautista’s Rebecca McGovern and her lawyers from the nonprofit environmental firm Earthjustice filed a “writ of mandate” with the Court of Appeal in San Jose, one step from the California Supreme Court.
The writ of mandate serves as an appeal, but is a mechanism intended to hurry the process, according to Earthjustice attorney Trent Orr.
“We need to move the thing along at a somewhat faster pace than an appeal does,” Orr said.
They filed it one week after a denial in the San Benito Superior Court from a visiting Santa Cruz judge. McGovern is trying to remove the initiative from the March ballot.
She claims a signature referendum that overturned the Board of Supervisors’ initial passing of the initiative as an ordinance omitted legally mandated language. And she wants it enacted as the ordinance passed in April.
But Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Robert Yonts ruled Nov. 19 the state election laws in question does not clearly apply to referendum petitions. San Benito County’s two judges – Harry Tobias and Steven Sanders – had disqualified themselves because of potential conflicts.
Immediately after Yonts’ denial of the lawsuit in San Benito County, Orr and his counterpart attorney, Anne Harper, said they would appeal.
“I am not surprised,” said Marguerite Leoni, the attorney for the group opposing McGovern’s attempt, the No on Measure G Committee. “I think Judge Yonts’ decision was very solid. I’m confident it will hold up.”
She expressed doubt the case would even be heard – “because the court hears so few cases of this nature,” she said.
But Orr believes it is unlikely the Court of Appeal would turn it down. He hopes for a final decision by the court in later December or early January. The county Elections Office is scheduled to turn in papers to the printer Dec. 23, Orr said.
“Our hope is that they’ll be setting a fairly short briefing schedule,” he said.
McGovern said she is even more confident now than she was before the local hearing.
“Because you don’t have pressures,” she said.
The Growth Control Initiative is a proposed amendment to the county’s General Plan. Among its changes, it would restrict property owners from subdividing agricultural tracts of land.
