Greenlight initiative zooming along

Jenifer Ragland

NEWPORT BEACH -- More than 10,000 residents here support an initiative

that proposes to require public votes on major development projects in

the city.

Greenlight, the grass-roots group that is sponsoring the Protection from

Traffic and Density Initiative, announced Wednesday that it had collected

10,251 signatures -- 50% more than the 6,778 needed to qualify the

measure for the November ballot.

The group plans to hand over the signatures to Newport Beach City Clerk

Lavonne Harkless at 9 a.m. today.

After that, Harkless said her office will have 30 working days to check

the signatures before forwarding the petition to the City Council for

certification. If the signatures are validated, the council must take

action to place the measure on the ballot and set an election date,

Harkless said.

If passed, the initiative would require a public vote to approve any

projects that generate more than 100 peak hour automobile trips, add more

than 100 housing units or add more than 40,000 square feet of floor area

over what the existing general plan allows.

“The initiative will provide voters with oversight on actions of the City

Council,” said Phil Arst, a proponent of the initiative. “It is expected

that the City Council, knowing of the voters’ review, will have to

involve voters more in the decision process and make better decisions.”

Although there will no doubt be an opposition campaign to the measure,

sources said it is not likely to surface until the initiative officially

gets on the ballot.

Greenlight leaders organized a group of volunteers that have been

gathering signatures for the initiative throughout the city since July.

About 250 people circulated petitions door-to-door, and in front of

supermarkets, libraries and other public gathering spots.

“[It was an] opportunity to meet the voters and explain the critical

nature of our need to limit traffic congestion,” said former city

councilwoman and environmental activist Jean Watt.

The movement began after the City Council approved changes to the Traffic

Phasing Ordinance this summer. The changes were sparked by a concern that

the ordinance, which was crafted in the 1970s by environmentalists to

help curb growth in Newport Beach, was vulnerable to legal challenges.