A state appeals court today rejected a bid by an anti-rail group to place an ordinance on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

The ruling by the state Intermediate Court of Appeals means it's unlikely Stop Rail Now's ordinance will be placed before the electorate.

The ruling also means that a City Council-initiated charter amendment question that asks whether the city shall "establish a steel wheel on steel rail transit system" will likely be on the ballot.

The court did not decide on the underlying merits of the case, which involves a lawsuit against the city clerk over the question of how many signatures are needed to place the following measure on the ballot: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail."

Reacting to the ruling, the city said "the ICA's decision actually ensures that the voters will have the right to vote on the rail issue in the upcoming general election."

In a news release, Don Kitaoka, deputy corporation counsel, said "There is a rail question on the ballot, the court noted that, it saw the likely confusion that would arise from having possibly two questions on the ballot, and the risk of having no question validated (if the charter question came off the ballot, and the SRN question was ultimately invalidated), and determined that the extraordinary relief SRN sought was just not warranted given the harm it would cause."

The court's 32-page ruling said Stop Rail Now did not show that significant irreparable harm would be caused if its proposed ordinance is not placed on the ballot. Meanwhile, granting the request could create serious, negative consequences for the upcoming general election, according to the ruling.

The city argued that it is too late to put Stop Rail Now's initiative on the November ballot because those ballots are already being printed.

"It's a great disappointment considering the 49,000 signatures we got – this is a matter of public interest," said Stop Rail Now attorney Earle Partington.

Stop Rail Now had asked the court to overturn a Circuit Court ruling declaring that the group needs nearly 45,000 valid signatures to place its proposed ordinance before general election voters. The group, which has collected about 35,000 valid signatures, maintains it needs about 30,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

Partington said Stop Rail Now would decide today whether to ask the state Supreme Court to intervene in the case. He acknowledged that time is running out if the proposed ordinance is to be voted on in the upcoming election.

"If we decide to go to the Supreme Court and it doesn't rule it in a week, we're dead," Partington said.

Stop Rail Now has criticized the City Council's charter amendment question because it would not prevent the city from proceeding with the project regardless of the vote results.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann hopes to start construction on the 20-mile elevated commuter rail project in late 2009 or early 2010. The project is expected to cost an inflation-adjusted $5 billion and take nearly a decade to complete all phases.