The Los Angeles City Council last week verified that the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative will appear as “Measure S” on the March ballot, to give the electorate a chance to weigh in on the divide in development and urban planning policies.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) launched the Coalition to Preserve L.A. to challenge the city’s “rigged, unfair and broken” approval process, which they said destroys neighborhood character, worsens traffic and puts additional strain on aging infrastructure. The coalition created the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative that would put a two-year freeze on developments that require height and density variations, and conflict with the city’s guidelines. During the development freeze, the city would rewrite its zoning and planning laws.

Since then, a group has formed in opposition called the Coalition to Protect L.A. Neighborhoods and Jobs. Elise Buik, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles said Measure S “must be stopped.”

“It would block our progress on homelessness, at a time when 76 percent of L.A. voters just said yes to ending homelessness in November with the city’s homeless housing bond,” Buik said. “We need all the tools in our toolbox to end homelessness and create affordable housing for working and middle-class people. Measure S takes away too many of those tools. It would make rents soar, eliminate thousands of jobs and force thousands more Angelenos out of homes.”

Gary Toebben, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, said Measure S would “slam the brakes” on new housing.

“It will destroy jobs and undermine our economic revival,” he said. “We want to work together to build more housing the right way, and this unwise measure does the opposite. It goes too far.”

In September, Stewart said Measure S would allow 95 percent of all development to continue while “the greediest 5 percent of developers are put on a timeout while we force the city council to come up with a real plan for Los Angeles.”

“How are they going to improve the roads, get the water we need and fix the infrastructure to accommodate the city council’s desired huge projects?” she asked. “Our ballot measure forces them to answer this crucial question and follow our zoning rules, instead of ignoring them as they have in recent years.”

The coalition that opposes Measure S said that out of the 15,645 housing units permitted last year, 9,099 required the kinds of zoning updates that Measure S would ban. In an open letter, the group said Measure S will ban 92 percent of all planned affordable and homeless housing projects.

Stewart points to an exemption in Measure S that would exclude affordable housing from the two-year ban on big developments. But opponents said that exemption only applies when a General Plan amendment is not necessary.

For information on the initiative from the supporters, visit 2preservela.org. To see a list of opponents, visit goestoofar.org.