Mission Viejo voters rejected an attempt to strip the city council of most of its zoning authority by defeating the ‘Right to Vote’ initiative. With 75 percent of precincts reporting, the measure was trailing 61 to 39 percent.
Proponents of the initiative said it would have protected the city’s character as a master planned community because voters would have had the final say over land use zone changes. For example, a change in housing density would have required voters to sign off on the zone change in a citywide referendum, paid for by the business wanting the zone change.
But opponents countered that the initiative is written in a way that it would do just the opposite and open the door to affordable housing developers looking for creative ways to interpret the state’s affordable housing laws.