By: Craig Shultz | Original Article at pe.com
In 2000, Beaumont had a population of 11,000, a count that had hardly changed over the previous decade.
But by 2005 it had reached 20,000. The population doubled again in the past decade, to about 40,000 in the San Gorgonio Pass city.
A group of residents said they have had enough and are looking to put a slow-growth initiative in front of voters. Under the proposal, the city would be allowed to issue only 350 single-family home building permits per year, and just 300 in planned communities. Currently, there are no limits.
“This initiative is designed for the future,” said Sam Patalano, a former planning commissioner and signer of the initiative.
Patalano made his comments Tuesday at a Beaumont City Council meeting at which the proposal was discussed. A larger than usual crowd attended – many to oppose the measure.
Twenty of the 26 people who addressed the council were against it. Most were part of the building industry, with many saying their livelihoods would be threatened by the initiative.
Sharing similar talking points, they said home construction brings jobs and those workers spend money in the city. They also said more homes bring more business.
Sean Balingit, a board member of the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce and another former planning commissioner, said the market should decide how many homes come to the community.
“I don’t think we need the big hand of government telling us what should be built,” he said. “I believe the economy will take care of that.”
Proponents of the initiative say the city needs to improve its infrastructure before adding more residents. They said the 350-home limit is consistent with the number of homes that have been built in recent years, so no job losses should occur.
The council decided to do more research on the proposal and discuss the issue again in January. The council could choose to put the initiative on the ballot as it is written, or place its own initiative in front of voters.
If the council places the initiative, proponents wouldn’t have to collect signatures of 10 percent of registered voters. At least one of the initiative’s backers said proponents plan to move forward regardless of the council’s actions.
“I think our initiative is so simple,” said John Dyson. “(It’s) putting this into the hands of the voting public to decide if they want to cap growth.”
Dyson said permitting has been left to administrators in the city, which is trying to dig its way out of a number of crises, including a ruling by the state Controller’s Office that no one was watching the books and a Riverside County District Attorney’s Office probe into the relationship between city administrators and a longtime consultant.
The soonest the initiative could come up for vote is in November 2016.