Chamber Endorses Dahl, Mortenson for SC Council

The San Clemente Chamber of Commerce has endorsed incumbent Jim Dahl and challenger Mike Mortenson for the two San Clemente City Council seats open this election.

The chamber emailed its official endorsement to the press Thursday morning, but campaign signs for Dahl and Mortenson have been displayed on the lawn of the organization's El Camino Real offices for a few weeks.

Dahl and Mortenson have thus far established themselves as friendlier to developers and businesses on at least a couple of issues. In council candidate forums, both have stopped short of endorsing a controversial ban on three-story buildings.

Dahl has advocated a sort of middle way in the two-story debate, calling for form-based codes that would allow the city more control over how the streetscape looks.

Both Dahl and Mortenson have also said they'd keep an open mind in future public hearings about what kind of billboards Marblehead mall developer Craig Realty would be allowed to construct along the I-5 to advertise the coming retail outlet.