Insiders ponder cause and effect of delay

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- When City Council members voted last month to

postpone their decision on the Dunes resort to September, the reasons

they gave for the surprise delay were vacations and the desire to further

review the proposed $100 million project.

The move puzzled the Dunes owners, residents and former city officials

who had watched as Planning Commission spent six months -- among the

longest in any commissioner’s memory -- combing through the proposal

before approving it in April.

“I would not have done that,” said Clarence Turner, a former mayor and

co-author of a counter-initiative to the Greenlight measure. “It’s hard

sometimes to get everyone there, but they’re elected to be there and you

move forward. I don’t know what their thinking was.”

Many Newport Beach political wonks say they have a guess: Greenlight.

The so-called Greenlight initiative, if passed in November, would

require a citywide vote on major -- and some minor -- projects. The

stringent slow-growth measure would take crucial planning decisions out

of the council’s hands and give it directly to the residents.

Although most council members are standing by the justifications they

gave for the Dunes delay, Tod Ridgeway -- the only member absent during

the controversial vote -- has a different opinion.

“It had everything to do with Greenlight,” Ridgeway said. “Is

everybody going to hide behind the political reality that the Dunes has

become a huge influence in that election?”

Ridgeway said he plans to make a motion to table both the Dunes and a

proposal to expand the Conexant headquarters, which is also going through

the planning process, until after the Greenlight vote.

A common thought among Newport insiders is that the county’s biggest

developer, the Irvine Co., has been lobbying the council not to approve

too many developments this summer, fearing that it will fuel support for

the Greenlight initiative.

Irvine Co. spokesman Rich Elbaum declined to comment.

Another theory going around town is self-preservation. It goes

something like this: Three council seats will be up for election this

fall, and council members are concerned that approving the developments

already in the planning pipeline -- the Dunes hotel and the Conexant and

Koll Center Newport expansion -- will propel anti-growth candidates to

victory.

The Dunes project is scheduled to resurface on the council agenda

shortly after Aug. 11 -- the last day political hopefuls can file their

papers.

The controversial Dunes project has been a lightning rod for

Greenlight proponents, who point to the large bayside hotel as something

residents could vote on if the initiative were in place.

The council members who voted for delay flatly deny any ulterior

motives, instead saying that the decision was in the best interest of the

community.

“It’s a very strong, deliberative council,” Mayor John Noyes said at

the time. “We are not being influenced by outside political forces.”

HIGH-STAKES CHESS GAME

A group of slow-growth activists wrote the Greenlight initiative in

response to what they say was a pro-development council approving too

many developments and threatening the quality of life in Newport.

It was time, Greenlight proponents said, to take control of the city’s

future from the council and give it to the voters. The introduction of

the measure earlier this year sparked fierce reaction from most of the

council members, many calling it an affront to representative government.

“Trust your elected officials,” Noyes pleaded. Other council members

added that some development was necessary to provide the kind of stellar

city services residents were accustomed to.

Tom Thomson, who is up for reelection, was the only councilman to

publicly support the measure. However, hours after telling the Daily

Pilot in March that he favored Greenlight, Thomson started to waver after

receiving a call from Carol Hoffman, an Irvine Co. vice president.

Although Irvine Co. officials have not taken a public stance on

Greenlight, in February they pulled their expansion plans at Newport

Center, saying that the Greenlight initiative added too much uncertainty

to an already time-consuming and expensive city planning process.

The measure has succeeded in pitting city officials and developers on

one side of the fence and community activists and environmentalists on

the other.

Caught in the middle is the Dunes development proposal.

THE DUNES TUG-OF-WAR

Last month, the council stunned the community with its 5-1 decision to

delay the Dunes vote.

Noyes, whose district includes the proposed resort, said it was

important for the entire council to be present during the vote because

the Dunes is a major decision for the community. During the summer

months, at least one council member would be on vacation during each

meeting, he explained.

But Councilman Gary Adams, who voted against the delay, said it was

unfair to both fans and critics of the project who had watched the

proposal crawl through the Planning Commission at a snail’s pace.

Former Mayor Tom Edwards agreed.

“Why not call a special meeting?” he asked. “Time and again we voted

on major issues when council members were absent.”

Dunes Chief Financial Officer Robert Gleason said: “Of course we’re

disappointed. We have spent a lot of time over the last couple of years

working with this plan and the community and building support for the

project. I think we’re going to have to wait and see what the council

does and what happens in September.”

Even foes of the Dunes said the delay was unfair for the respected

Evans family, the developers of the project.

“Although I adamantly oppose the hotel, I think this is something that

was a terrible blow to [the Dunes developers],” said environmental

activist Susan Caustin.

At the meeting without Ridgeway in attendance, the council was able to

approve a $130 million budget.

THE INSIDE SCOOP

The Greenlight group, though initially confused by the move, was

pleased because it meant a decision on the Dunes would be pushed closer

to election time. And this could potentially increase support for their

measure.

But Greenlight supporter and former Mayor Evelyn Hart was suspicious.

Perhaps, she wondered, there was another motivation behind the

council’s decision. After all, why would a fiercely anti-Greenlight

council make a decision in Greenlight’s favor? Still, Hart could offer no

theories for the delay.

All of this is tricky business. Greenlight could radically change the

way Newport Beach operates, and a new wave of slow-growth residents could

be elected to the council on its coattails.

The slow-growth advocates have never had much political power inside

City Hall, though they made their presence felt with grass-roots groups

like Stop Polluting Our Newport and forcing referendums on major projects

in the 1980s.

Ridgeway downplayed the likelihood of the self-preservation theory,

pointing out that running for office is a major undertaking, and it’s

unlikely that candidates would simply run in reaction to a council

decision on the Dunes.

“If some Greenlight people want to run, get out and run,” he said.

Here is a look at some of the development proposals in the planning

process.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

DUNES

WHAT: 470-room hotel and time share

WHERE: Approved by the Planning Commission and slated to appear before

the City Council in September

CONEXANT

WHAT: Adding 566,000 square feet of industrial and office space

WHERE: Going through the Planning Commission

KOLL CENTER NEWPORT WHAT: Adding 25,000 square feet of office space

WHERE: About to go through the City Council