In this new feature, we will be posting a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that were asked of volunteers during the gathering of signatures for the Veterans Cemetery Referendum Petition. These Referendum FAQs are important, because we soon expect another campaign when the Referendum appears on the Irvine election ballot in 2018.
Q: What did the Referendum Petition do?
A: It immediately stopped the re-zoning of 125 acres of Great Park property — originally designated as a Veterans Cemetery — to 812,000 square feet of office and commercial development. That, in turn, stopped the “land-swap” with developer FivePoint Communities, since the only reason FivePoint wants 125 acres of Irvine’s Great Park property is to be able to build on it. FivePoint has no interest in a cemetery.
Q: What happens next, since it appears that the required 12,000 signatures of registered Irvine voters have been gathered?
A: The Irvine City Clerk confirmed on Monday, November 13th, that 19,125 signatures were submitted and appear to be valid without further checking. That same day, the Petitions were submitted to the County Registrar of Voters who has 30 days to check the signatures against the voter rolls, deleting invalid ones. If the Registrar of Voters certifies that the number of registered Irvine voter signatures on the Petition exceeds the required 12,000, then, the next step is up to the Irvine City Council, which will have three choices. The Council can:
1) rescind the re-zoning ordinance it had adopted, thereby putting the Veterans Cemetery back in the Great Park at its original site; or,
2) put the re-zoning ordinance on the ballot at the next City election, in November, 2018; or,
3) call a special City election that could be in April, or could coincide with the State primary election in June, 2018.
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