Opponents of the alcohol-free beaches and bay ordinance have about 30 days to collect the 30,209 signatures that would overturn the ban and possibly bring it to a vote before the people.
If the City Clerk’s Office approves the signatures, the item would be slated for the next available City Council meeting, said Denise Jenkins, City Clerk elections analyst.
If the council receives approval from the City Clerk’s Office “[The ordinance] is put on hold,” she said.
Then the city council can either lift the ban or place it on a ballot within 11 months for voters to decide, she said.
The beach alcohol ban is scheduled to begin in January.
According to language in the Municipal Code, a petition cannot be circulated for signatures until the day after City Council’s last action on the ordinance.
Local groups on both sides of the debate anticipate organizers across the city to begin collecting signatures after Mayor Jerry Sanders signs the ordinance into law.
“The specifics haven’t been worked out yet so right now people are just trying to get organized,” Jeremy Malecha, executive director of Freepb.org, said.
The grass-roots organization advocates for responsible drinking on the beach combined with informational campaigns designed to curb abuse. Malecha said the group would like to work with the community to solve the alcohol-related problems at the beach rather than pass restrictive laws.
While the local nonprofit is prohibited from funding signature gatherings because of its nonprofit status, Malecha said the organization has received a lot of correspondence from citizens against the ban.
Scott Chipman, a 33-year Pacific Beach resident and spokesman for Safebeaches.org, said he expects the referendum to bring the issue to a citywide vote. He also said he would discourage people from signing the petition.
“We’re going to watch and wait and see what happens with the signature gathering process,” Chipman said.
The issue of banning alcohol at the beach came before San Diego voters in 2002 when voters came out against Prop G by a slim margin.
However, Chipman said this is a different campaign all together.
Many people voted against Prop G because of flaws in the legislation that would have sectioned off parts of the beach into alcohol-free zones, he said.
“Times have changed and the situation at the beach has gotten worse,” Chipman said.