Chief
08-30-2007, 07:51 AM
JEFFREY MIZE, columbian staff writer
May 15, 2001; Page c1
Any hopes city officials had for an easy out vanished Monday with the verification of more than enough signatures on petitions seeking a vote on the Vancouver special events center. Whether an election will ever take place is far from certain.
The Vancouver City Council has repeatedly voted 6-1 to support the project and rejected calls for a public vote.
Vancouver intends to file papers in Clark County Superior Court early next week asking a judge to rule if the city legally can follow referendum petitions and schedule a public vote.
Tim Likness, county elections supervisor, said late Monday afternoon that unofficial results indicated there were 3,402 valid signatures, or 454 more than the 2,948 needed to qualify for the ballot. Petitioners had gathered a total of 5,058 signatures.
Larry Patella, one of the Vancouver residents who spearheaded the petition campaign, welcomed the news.
"We had figured that we would get enough signatures," he said. "We're just waiting to see where we go from here."
Patella said petitioners intend on wading into the impending court case. He said he has spoken to three different attorneys, one from Vancouver and two from other parts of Washington, who are interested in taking the case, but he declined to give any names.
"We've done a lot of research on the law and what the city charter says and what the RCWs (Revised Codes of Washington) say and what the constitution says," Patella said. "We think if everyone follows the letter and the spirit of the law, they should uphold our contention."
Both Mayor Royce Pollard and City Manager Pat McDonnell said they weren't surprised enough signatures were collected for a referendum.
Making history
This is believed to be the first time in Vancouver's history that voters have filed enough signatures to overturn a council decision at the ballot box.
Voters have pursued initiative campaigns, the most recent 15 years ago when a group tried, unsuccessfully, to bring cardrooms back into downtown.
An initiative proposes a new law; a referendum seeks to repeal an existing or newly passed law.
The Vancouver City Charter allows residents to challenge ordinances by gathering signatures equal to 10 percent of votes cast in the last city election. Once the signatures have been verified, the council must rescind the ordinance or put the issue before voters.
But City Attorney Ted Gathe believes the council cannot move the issue onto the ballot, regardless of the number of valid signatures.
When the state Legislature grants a power to a city, in this case the ability to create public facilities districts to build sports stadiums, arenas and similar projects, a city cannot turn around and delegate that authority to voters, he said.
If petitioners succeed in forcing a public vote, it won't be a simple yes-no question on whether to build the 6,500-seat events center.
Instead, city voters would be asked to affirm or overturn the council's March 26 decision to remove legal constraints from the Vancouver Public Facilities District, which the council created in October 1999 to build the project.
The council also could decide to have an advisory vote on the subject. So far, only Councilwoman Jeanne Lipton has advocated any type of vote.
The $59.1 million project would build a 6,500-seat events center with 28,000 square feet of exhibition space.
An adjacent 174-room hotel would be privately financed and owned.
All three would be built on a four-block area immediately south of Esther Short Park.
May 15, 2001; Page c1
Any hopes city officials had for an easy out vanished Monday with the verification of more than enough signatures on petitions seeking a vote on the Vancouver special events center. Whether an election will ever take place is far from certain.
The Vancouver City Council has repeatedly voted 6-1 to support the project and rejected calls for a public vote.
Vancouver intends to file papers in Clark County Superior Court early next week asking a judge to rule if the city legally can follow referendum petitions and schedule a public vote.
Tim Likness, county elections supervisor, said late Monday afternoon that unofficial results indicated there were 3,402 valid signatures, or 454 more than the 2,948 needed to qualify for the ballot. Petitioners had gathered a total of 5,058 signatures.
Larry Patella, one of the Vancouver residents who spearheaded the petition campaign, welcomed the news.
"We had figured that we would get enough signatures," he said. "We're just waiting to see where we go from here."
Patella said petitioners intend on wading into the impending court case. He said he has spoken to three different attorneys, one from Vancouver and two from other parts of Washington, who are interested in taking the case, but he declined to give any names.
"We've done a lot of research on the law and what the city charter says and what the RCWs (Revised Codes of Washington) say and what the constitution says," Patella said. "We think if everyone follows the letter and the spirit of the law, they should uphold our contention."
Both Mayor Royce Pollard and City Manager Pat McDonnell said they weren't surprised enough signatures were collected for a referendum.
Making history
This is believed to be the first time in Vancouver's history that voters have filed enough signatures to overturn a council decision at the ballot box.
Voters have pursued initiative campaigns, the most recent 15 years ago when a group tried, unsuccessfully, to bring cardrooms back into downtown.
An initiative proposes a new law; a referendum seeks to repeal an existing or newly passed law.
The Vancouver City Charter allows residents to challenge ordinances by gathering signatures equal to 10 percent of votes cast in the last city election. Once the signatures have been verified, the council must rescind the ordinance or put the issue before voters.
But City Attorney Ted Gathe believes the council cannot move the issue onto the ballot, regardless of the number of valid signatures.
When the state Legislature grants a power to a city, in this case the ability to create public facilities districts to build sports stadiums, arenas and similar projects, a city cannot turn around and delegate that authority to voters, he said.
If petitioners succeed in forcing a public vote, it won't be a simple yes-no question on whether to build the 6,500-seat events center.
Instead, city voters would be asked to affirm or overturn the council's March 26 decision to remove legal constraints from the Vancouver Public Facilities District, which the council created in October 1999 to build the project.
The council also could decide to have an advisory vote on the subject. So far, only Councilwoman Jeanne Lipton has advocated any type of vote.
The $59.1 million project would build a 6,500-seat events center with 28,000 square feet of exhibition space.
An adjacent 174-room hotel would be privately financed and owned.
All three would be built on a four-block area immediately south of Esther Short Park.