A pro-development group will attempt to bypass Mendocino County?s planning process and ask voters to approve a shopping center-based development at a former industrial site on the edge of Ukiah.
Mendocino County Tomorrow on Tuesday notified the county it intends to gather signatures for a ballot measure that would change the zoning for the 80-acre former Masonite property from industrial to mixed use, said David Clark, the group?s executive director.
The group?s membership includes Developers Diversified Realty, which wants to turn the former molded door factory into a shopping center and housing complex dubbed Mendocino Crossings, he said.
Other members of the 35-person strong, year-old group do not wish to be identified, he said. Other people who signed the petition notice are local residents Daniel Rosales, Carole Elaine Myer and Katie Battaglia Huerta.
Clark said it?s necessary to bypass the county planning process because a majority of the members of the current Mendocino County Board of Supervisors opposes the development. The group and the developers say the development ? by far the largest ever proposed in the county ? would be a boon to the local economy.
?We?re going to put it to the people. Quite frankly, if it goes to the Board of Supervisors, it doesn?t look good,? he said.
Mendocino Crossings spokesman Brian Sobel applauded the effort.
?We feel strongly that Mendocino County Tomorrow is really doing something that is greatly beneficial for the region,? he said.
Ukiah City Councilwoman Mari Rodin disagrees.
?This initiative is an effort by an out-of-county corporation, based in Cleveland, to thwart local control and the democratic process,? she said.
If the group?s effort is successful, it will undermine the public and environmental review process that would otherwise have been required of a general plan amendment, Rodin said.
Given Mendocino County residents? dislike of outside influence ?I think DDR is going to face stiff opposition,? she said.
Mendocino County Tomorrow will have 180 days from the time they get a ballot title and initiative approved by the county counsel, expected by April 1, to obtain 3,083 signatures ? 10 percent of the votes from the last gubernatorial election, said Mendocino County Assistant Registrar of Voters Katrina Bartolomie.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: