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.