NEWPORT BEACH : 2 Planners Retained While Another Quits

Two city planning commissioners retained their appointments this week, and another commissioner resigned, freeing up a seat that is scheduled to be filled next month.

Jan Debay and Gary Pomeroy were reappointed Monday to the Planning Commission by the City Council, beating a stack of qualified applicants that Mayor Phil Sansone said made the choice “difficult.”

“The applications were as high a caliber as we’ve ever had. We had a difficult time reaching a choice,” Sansone said.

The council voted, 6-1, for both commissioners, with Councilwoman Jean H. Watt voted for the challengers, Anne K. Gifford, a lawyer, and Jerome Halderson, an engineer.

In an unrelated development Monday, first-term Commissioner Barry Gross resigned, saying he no longer had time to serve on the commission.

Gross recently began a business venture in Russia and is often unable to attend Planning Commission meetings. “I just don’t have the time,” Gross said. “There’s just so much to do.”

Gross, who joined the panel last year, said he regrets having to step down. “I thought I did a pretty good job while I was there,” he said, but “Russia’s a more interesting place than the Planning Commission.”

The panel advises the City Council on planning issues, ranging from individual homeowners’ plans for house additions to mammoth expansion proposals such as those proposed by Hoag Hospital and the Balboa Bay Club.

Commissioners are appointed by the council and are eligible to serve two four-year terms. Both Debay and Pomeroy are serving their second terms.