Concerned Citizens v. City of Carlsbad

Factual Summary

On July 15, 1986, Concerned Citizens presented defendant City of Carlsbad with a proposed initiative regulating the rate of development in Carlsbad over the following 10 years. The initiative was supported by the signatures of enough Carlsbad residents to qualify it for decision by the voters in the November 1986 general election. Although the council had the option of enacting the initiative without putting it before the voters (Elec. Code, § 4011), the council placed the measure on the November ballot. Concerned Citizens’s proposal was denominated Proposition G.

Proposition G would have limited to 1,000 the number of residential dwelling units that could have been constructed in Carlsbad in calendar year 1987. In 1988 the limit would have been reduced to 750 units; in each year from 1989 through and including 1996 the limit would have been 500 units. Proposition G provided exceptions for replacement dwellings, remodeling, subsidized low-cost housing and senior citizen housing.

In apparent response to Proposition G, the council placed an alternative measure on the ballot. (Elec. Code, § 4017.) The council’s measure was denominated Proposition E.…