Banning Ranch defender runs for council

Banning Ranch anti-development activist and Costa Mesa small business owner Chris Bunyan announced that he will run for Costa Mesa’s City Council today.

One of the ways Bunyan has been most visible in the community is through his efforts to stop the owners of Banning Ranch, a 400-acre plot of land adjacent to Costa Mesa, from putting more than 1,000 homes and a hotel on the property.

As an integral member of the Save the Banning Ranch Task Force, Bunyan has fought against the proposal, saying that it would be a heavy burden on Costa Mesa because of the extra traffic it would cause on the 55 freeway and nearby surface streets and the loss of open space that could be used for recreation by Costa Mesans.

This is Bunyan’s second attempt at securing a council seat. He had the lowest vote total of the six contenders for two seats in the 2006 general election.

Bunyan is the eighth person to announce his candidacy for the three available seats on the City Council. All three incumbents have pulled papers to keep their seats as well as former Mayor Gary Monahan, Nicholas Moss, Bill Sneen and Lisa Reedy.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].