A petition drive has begun for an effort to bypass Mendocino County?s planning process by asking voters to directly approve an 80-acre shopping center-based development on Ukiah?s northern edge.
Organizers must collect 6,167 signatures ? 20 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election ? to get the initiative on a ballot this year, said Mendocino County Clerk-Recorder Sue Ranochak. They need half that many for next year?s regular statewide election in June, she said.
The ballot effort is led by the organization Mendocino County Tomorrow with major funding by Developers Diversified Realty, one of the country?s largest builders of shopping centers. The group?s fundraising committee members are based in Utah, Ohio and San Rafael.
The ballot measure would change the zoning on the former Masonite property from industrial to mixed use. It does not specify what would be built.
Supporters say the ballot measure was launched because the current county Board of Supervisors opposes the plan. Ukiah-area officials and groups oppose the ballot measure, saying it thwarts local control over the largest development ever proposed in the county.
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