THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPEPark site may go to ballot

Newport Beach voters could have yet another issue on their ballot this fall: whether to build a city hall on a site planned for a park.

After months of deliberation over where to put a new city hall, the City Council was ready to plan a new facility on the existing City Hall site. Then a proposal from architect Bill Ficker to build on a site next to the main library began gaining traction, and the council put the brakes on the project to find out more.

Now Mayor Don Webb wants to put the park site to a public vote. Whether the vote would be binding would depend on how it’s worded, he said.

Council members were split on the idea at a Tuesday study session, but Webb is requesting more information. If the council decides to hold a vote, the issue could be on the fall ballot.

Impact of Greenlight II

Homeowners can be a protective bunch, as shown by recent efforts to limit eminent domain. So the news that a ballot initiative designed to limit major developments could affect 65% of Newport Beach’s residential properties comes as a potential blow to the initiative’s proponents.

The ballot measure, known as Greenlight II, would require a public vote on development projects that meet certain criteria. Newport Beach City Council members on Tuesday heard that its effects may reach farther than intended.

Phil Arst, a spokesman for the Greenlight citizens’ committee that backed the ballot issue, told the council the intent of the ordinance was “to target major development, major traffic-producing developments, high rises ? and leave residents alone.”

That’s why it was written to exempt properties zoned R-1 through R-2, which are single- or two-family properties, from the public vote requirement. But nearly two-thirds of the city’s residential properties are zoned as “planned community” or other designations that aren’t exempt from the ballot measure.

Arst admitted that was an oversight, but on Wednesday he fired back at the council, protesting the way it chose to word the Greenlight issue on the ballot.

The city’s “cumbersome” 75-word description, Arst wrote in a statement, “tells some details of how it works but does not provide the official name of the initiative.” He argued that the omission makes it harder for his group to explain the issue to people and solicit support.

Arst also said the supposed problems with the initiative that city staff members pointed out were based on scenarios they admitted were improbable.

NEW SANITATION BOARD CHAIRMAN

Costa Mesa resident Jim Ferryman was recently elected chairman of the Orange County Sanitation District board. He will serve a one-year term that began July 1.

Ferryman, a former Newport-Mesa school board member, represents the Costa Mesa Sanitary District. He has been on the county sanitation board since 1993.dpt.13-pollanscape-CPhotoInfo2E1SSM4H20060713j1wi8yncCredit: MARK DUSTIN / DAILY PILOT Caption: (LA)Newport Beach Mayor Don Webb, pictured at a recent parade, wants to put the proposed park site for a new city hall to a vote.