Mission Viejo City Council Race Shapes Up as Crowded, Heated

By FRANK MESSINA

Oct. 8, 1996 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

MISSION VIEJO — Two years ago, in the most expensive political campaign in the city’s 10-year history, fewer than 4,000 votes separated the winning three candidates in a seven-person race.

This year, six candidates for two open seats plan to spend far less than the $130,000 collected for the 1994 campaign, but the competition may be just as heated.

With even fellow candidates believing two-term incumbent William Craycraft will keep his seat, the race is seen as five people vying to replace Councilman Joseph Lowe, who is not seeking reelection.

Those candidates include Lawrence Gilbert and Tom Potocki, who both competed strongly for a seat two years ago and plan to spend up to $15,000 each in this campaign.

The other three are college student Jonathan Galaviz, attorney Bradley Morton and financial executive Lindalee Adams. They vow to make up for a lack of political experience and finances by pounding the streets to reach constituents.

The candidates have focused their campaigns on such issues as the proposal to convert the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport and a variety of economic concerns facing the city, including local government spending and a decrease in property values in recent years.

Craycraft and Potocki, a city planning commissioner, proudly point to what they consider the city’s financial achievements over the past two years, including development of the Mission Viejo Freeway Center, a shopping center that brings in over $1 million annually in sales taxes.

“In the past two years we have maintained an outstanding service level to citizens,” Craycraft said. “We’ve improved parks, added cops and were still able to add $1.2 million to [the city’s] general fund reserves.”

Potocki likewise said the city has worked hard to draw businesses to Mission Viejo. The town’s revenues now are balanced evenly between sales and property taxes, meaning Mission Viejo is less vulnerable to economic downturns or state funding cutbacks.

But other candidates are not as enthusiastic about the city’s economic health.

Gilbert, who finished fewer than 500 votes short of a council seat in 1994, has reiterated his platform of two years ago: Clamp down on city spending.

“There are still some contracts I disagree with,” Gilbert said. Topping his list is approximately $150,000 the city spends to run the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter, which the candidate said should be run by a private company or further subsidized by renting space in the shelter to other cities.

Laguna Niguel leases a portion of the shelter and Mission Viejo officials also say they’d like to see other cities house their strays there.

Neither Morton nor Gilbert would support any effort to renew a proposal to build a new city hall, an idea rejected by voters four years ago but one still occasionally discussed. They say the city must complete construction of the Mission Viejo library, which started in September and is scheduled to open next year.

“I would like to see our [library] debt under control, then see what our options are,” said Gilbert. The city is helping to finance the library with $3.25 million in certificates of participation, which are similar to bonds.

Morton said that building a City Hall should not be a high priority.

“My first instinct is that we don’t need a new City Hall,” said Morton. “My read is that Mission Viejo voters aren’t ready for that kind of project, especially until we see how the library settles in.”

Galaviz said he would improve Mission Viejo’s economic climate by working to boost the city’s image, which he says will translate into improved property values. Experts, however, say property values are determined by a variety of factors, including the overall economy.

The Southern California real estate market has been improving for about a year, analysts said, and sales in the second quarter were the strongest in five years. Orange County’s market showed strong year-to-year gains at the beginning of 1996, but sales have slowed in recent months.

“If you have a City Council member that goes out and interacts with other cities and says ‘Mission Viejo is the best city in Southern California,’ that helps spread the word,” Galaviz said.

Candidates were unified in their opposition to opening a commercial airport at El Toro air base. But opinions varied on how to defeat the airport proposal and how effective the City Council has been in fighting it.

By December, the county will decide whether to follow the endorsements of two countywide elections and build a civilian airport at El Toro that would serve 38.3 million passengers a year when the military retires the base by 1999.

Supporters say an El Toro airport would bring jobs, stimulate the economy and help meet growing passenger demand. Opponents--mainly South County residents who live near the base or under proposed flight paths--are worried about noise, traffic and potential crashes.

“Step One, I’d lobby the board of supervisors, who I believe are probably predisposed toward the commercial airport,” Potocki said. “If that proves ineffective, I’d build a strong lobbying effort to our congressmen to deal with the Department of the Navy,” which controls the base closure.

Adams backs an alternative site somewhere in Camp Pendleton because of its large stretches of open space and oceanside location, which she said would allow jets to approach from the water away from residential communities.

Morton and Galaviz said the City Council hasn’t done enough to defeat the airport plan.

“I would have [Mission Viejo] resign from the League of Cities as a way to protest symbolically how the whole county has been fractured over this issue,” Morton said.

Galaviz said the council “has been very inactive on the El Toro issue. All Mission Viejo ever did is give $100,000 to a group that opposes the airport.”

But Craycraft said anyone who thinks the city has done little on the airport issue “hasn’t been watching the City Council in recent years.”

Mission Viejo has worked with other area cities to oppose the airport for years, helping to form an opposition group of South County municipalities and traveling to Washington to lobby against airport conversion plans, Craycraft said.

“We’ll take this as far as we need to legally,” he said. “This area cannot stand the ravages of an airport.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Mission Viejo Campaigners

Six candidates, including one incumbent, are campaigning for two open seats on the Mission Viejo City Council. The six are:

Lindalee Adams

Age: 49

Occupation: Executive banking financial officer

Background: Member, Mission Viejo Chamber of Commerce board of directors

Major issue: Will fight crime by being an advocate for legislative action to protect Mission Viejo citizens

William Craycraft

Age: 53

Occupation: Aerospace materials sales