NEWPORT BEACH Orange County Museum of Art officials – who want to sell their land to finance a move to Costa Mesa – are asking a judge to void a petition challenging the proposed 25-story Museum House condominium tower slated to replace the art museum.

Opponents of the Museum House project turned in the nearly 14,000-signature petition to the Newport Beach city clerk last month.

Political action committee Line in the Sand is challenging the City Council’s November 6-1 vote approving the project, saying the public should decide its fate.

But Art Museum officials on Friday asked an Orange County Superior Court judge to invalidate the petition, saying it does not meet “the most basic and mandatory” state election law requirements and is misleading, the art museum said in a statement Tuesday.

They also claimed the full text of the project’s general plan amendments were not provided, and documents were either left out or printed with text smaller than the size mandated by law, according to the release.

“The democratic process only works if voters are presented with the facts and all parties follow California’s mandatory election laws,” said Todd Smith, Orange County Museum of Art’s CEO and director.

Line in the Sand officials declined to comment on the museum’s court request.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters is in the process of verifying the petition signatures. If enough signatures are verified, the matter will go back to the City Council, where it can reverse its decision or bring it to a public vote.

Museum House supporters argue the 100-unit building will boost nearby property values and enhance Fashion Island. Opponents say the tower will lead to more traffic and more large-scale developments.

OCMA is trying to sell the land to finance its move to a 1.64-acre parcel on the campus of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.

Smith has said the move will boost the art museum’s attendance, which he said had lagged in recent years due to its location.

The museum’s request to the judge included an analysis by Lawrence Stark, an associate professor at Marshall B. Ketchum University’s optometry school. He said the text in the petition was equivalent to a 6.6 font and “far smaller than those normally encountered in print media such as newspapers and books.”

“The circulated petition contains hundreds of instances of text so small, it is virtually unreadable,” he concluded.

Friday’s court filing is the latest in a back and forth between the project’s supporters and opponents.

Museum House developer Related California previously asked City Clerk Leilani Brown to reject the petition for some of the same reasons cited by the art museum.

Last month, a lawyer representing Related California filed a complaint with the Orange County Board of Supervisors regarding attorney Mark Rosen, who represents Citizens Against High Rise Urban Towers and works as a part-time executive assistant to county Auditor-Controller Eric Woolery.

The complaint alleged Rosen underminded the project by talking to the media and with employees of the county’s Airport Land Use Commission, which signed off on Museum House in November.

The Irvine Co. asked a court for unspecified damages and a restraining order against Related California. Irvine Co. officials said Museum House supporters had disrupted petitioners at several of its shopping centers and bothered shoppers.

The company, which also opposes the Museum House, gave the land to OCMA with the intention that it be used for cultural purposes, officials said.

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