In less than an hour Wednesday afternoon, Laguna Beach resident Paul Merritt gathered 25 signatures to kick-start his push to put the Village Entrance project on the ballot.
Merritt, clipboard in hand, approached walkers and drivers in a corner of the Ralphs parking lot off Cleo Street.
"We do want parking, just not a four-story," Merritt told one man in reference to the city's proposal, which calls for a 500-space parking structure and a pedestrian park at Forest Avenue and Laguna Canyon Road.
The initiative would restrict the Village Entrance Project by not allowing a parking structure or park at the proposed location, according to a copy of it provided by Merritt.
The initiative would also cap city spending on Village Entrance to $5 million and direct that no revenue from the existing 1,178 existing parking meters be used on the project, the measure said.
The City Council voted 3 to 2 in June to spend $42 million for the project, which has been discussed and debated for the past 18 years.