The city clerk's office yesterday refused to accept a petition from a group hoping to put an anti-rail ordinance on the November ballot.

Stop Rail Now submitted petitions with what it said were 49,041 signatures in nine cardboard boxes. The total was well in excess of the group's goal of 40,000.

The city clerk rejected the petition not because of insufficient numbers but because it arrived too late for the November election.

The petition's next stop will likely be Circuit Court. Stop Rail Now said it plans to file a suit against the city today to get the measure on the ballot.

"It's a tremendous victory that we ended up with over 49,000 signatures," said Dennis Callan, co-chairman of Stop Rail Now. "Now, we need the decisive victory in court."

Accompanying the petition were several dozen anti-rail supporters chanting and carrying signs such as "Costs so much, does so little" and "Let the people decide."

Yesterday's events were largely perfunctory because City Clerk Denise De Costa notified Stop Rail Now in mid-July that she would not accept the petition.

The group would have had to submit the petition by May to get on the November ballot, according to De Costa's July letter. That position has not changed, De Costa said yesterday.

"That's basically how we read the Charter," she said. "It's not my own personal opinion. It's the opinion of the lawyers as well."

The soonest a special election could be held is May 2009, based on the city's interpretation of the Charter.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann hopes to start construction on the 20-mile commuter rail late next year. The system, which would connect West Kapolei with Ala Moana, is scheduled to open in phases between 2012 and 2018.

According to the recently conducted Hawai'i Poll, more than three-quarters of respondents said the electorate should get to decide the issue, and nearly two-thirds said they would cast their ballot in favor of rail.

DISPUTE OVER NUMBER

Stop Rail Now began its petition drive April 21. The group said it needed 30,000 signatures of registered voters and wanted to collect 40,000 in case some of the signatures later proved invalid. The city clerk's office maintains the group needs valid signatures of at least 44,525 registered voters. The dispute over the number may also be resolved in the courts.

Stop Rail Now's attorney Earle Partington yesterday said he's confident a judge will rule in the group's favor and the issue will be placed on the November ballot.

"I imagine (it will happen) pretty quickly because it's only a question of law because there are no disputed facts here," he said. "The question is, does the Charter permit us to file this petition and have it voted on at the next election? That's pretty straightforward," Partington said.

Stop Rail Now argues the public has a right to vote on whether the city should proceed with the transit project, which would be the largest public works project in state history. Rail proponents, including Hannemann and pro-rail council members, initially argued that a vote was not needed because the public had input on the project via elected representatives and public hearings.

Pro-rail parties have now conceded that a vote may be appropriate. The City Council last week voted unanimously to advance a measure that would allow voters to decide whether the city should build a $3.7 billion commuter rail.

However, that question won't land on the November ballot unless it can survive two more City Council votes.

CHARTER AMENDMENT

The current proposed amendment to the city Charter states that the city shall "establish a steel wheel on steel rail transit system." A vote against the measure would not prevent the city from proceeding, though politically it could be difficult to build a project rejected by voters.

Stop Rail Now's proposed ordinance reads: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail." A vote for Stop Rail Now's ordinance would likely kill the project. However, if voters approve the Charter amendment, Stop Rail Now's petition becomes irrelevant, said council member Todd Apo, who supports the rail project. That's because a voter-based ballot initiative cannot override the city's Charter, he said.

The council is scheduled to hear the proposed Charter amendments tomorrow.

A general election, rather than a special election, is the best forum for a vote on the rail issue, said Apo.

"You really get to the question where if it's going to be on the ballot at some point, is it better to put it on the general ballot where a greater number of the public is going to vote and make this decision, than to do this at a special election, which is not only going to cost more money but also have lower turnout," Apo said. "It's a much better scenario for this type of decision making by the voting public — that we do it in a forum where the most people will be getting their ballots cast."