Progress continues on Newport Coast annexation
Noaki Schwartz
NEWPORT BEACH -- The City Council on Monday may take the first real
step toward annexing the Newport Coast after more than a year of
negotiations.
Dave Kiff, deputy city manager, said staff will ask council members
for permission to send out required notices to the public and affected
agencies that the city intends to pursue an annexation of the 9,500-acre
area. After that, the council could file a formal application with the
Local Agency Formation Commission, the state-created body governing
incorporations and annexations.
While city officials and Newport Coast residents still need to work
out some of the financial points of the annexation deal, both parties
seemed hopeful about recent discussions, including a closed-door meeting
Tuesday night.
“The discussions are very amiable. We’re trying to create a win-win
situation,” said Homer Bludau, city manager. “[But] it takes a lot of
time to get an application together.”
Jim McGee, the spokesman for Newport Coast residents, seemed to lean
more toward cautiously optimistic.
“We’ve made progress,” he said.
But that is a significant change from last year at this time, when
Newport Coast residents ended negotiations with city officials to pursue
the possibility of becoming an independent city.
Talks resumed again in February after the November elections changed
the makeup of the council and city leaders made annexation a definitive
goal for the year.
McGee said Newport Coast residents’ initial rejection of the
annexation effort stemmed from a lack of good information. Their
protestations last year eventually were tempered by the realization that
cityhood would be more difficult than annexation, he said.
As part of the negotiations, McGee submitted proposals to the city
that he felt needed to be met in order for his community to agree to
annexation. These included: the creation of a unified neighborhood,
property tax relief and an assurance that the coast would enjoy the same
municipal services as Newport Beach residents.
One of the major sticking points of the negotiations has been money.
Because annexation of the exclusive Newport Coast area will mean more
property tax for the city, coast residents have consistently pushed for
them to share in that extra revenue. Coast residents complain that they
pay property tax as well as many additional fees to fund infrastructure.
By annexing the coast and providing water and sewer service to the
area -- now done by the Irvine Ranch Water District -- city officials
found they can return some property tax revenue to coast residents
without decreasing the amount of money going to the city’s general fund.
Should the council agree to the staff recommendation, staff will
notify the public and affected agencies and bring the application
proposal back at the Oct. 25 meeting, Kiff said.
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