Koll ready to be first Greenlight test

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Greenlight’s first test might be only a few months

away.

Half a year after the city’s voters approved a slow-growth law that

requires a citywide vote for certain general plan amendments, the

developer of a 250,000-square-foot expansion project at Koll Center on

Thursday said he’s ready to take his proposal before residents if city

officials sign off on his plans in the coming weeks.

Planning commissioners will discuss the matter at their June 7

meeting. If the commissioners approve the project, City Council members

-- who must approve general plan amendments -- could take up the matter

June 26.

Should the expansion get a thumbs up from city leaders, a special

election would follow in the fall.

The project, which includes a new 10-story office tower and two

parking garages, would be built at the southern end of the Koll Center

near the intersection of MacArthur and Jamboree boulevards. The entire

Koll complex forms a triangle surrounded by the two streets and Campus

Drive to the north.

Under current plans, Koll may still build another 15,000 square feet

in the area. But to complete the whole project, the company is asking for

an additional 225,500 square feet.

That pushes the project way over the 40,000-square-foot threshold

established by Greenlight. Developments that add more than 100 peak-hour

car trips or dwelling units over what’s allowed in the general plan also

must go before a vote by residents.

Tim Strader Sr., one of five partners working on the project, said his

team is confident enough to move forward.

“We live in Newport Beach,” he said. “We support the idea of the

Greenlight procedures, and we heard the voters [who approved the

initiative]. We want to respond with a project that we think will be an

asset to the community.”

Situated in the city’s airport area, which is mainly made up of office

buildings, the place is the right location for expansion, Strader said.

“If there is any place appropriate for this kind of building, this is

it,” he said, adding that the project would have “very little impact” on

residents.

The additional car traffic generated by the expansion, however, has

raised concerns among city officials before.

During a hearing in September, planning commissioners said they would

not support the project unless Strader and his colleagues agreed to an

agreement with the city to handle long-term traffic congestion in the

area.

While the Greenlight election was part of the reason the Koll partners

decided to put their project on hold last fall, hammering out an

agreement with city officials has also delayed a decision.

On top of about $1.16 million in traffic and transportation fees

already required for the project, Strader and the others are now offering

to add $2 million for long-term traffic improvements, as well as $112,500

to fund a planing study for the area and $60,000 to build a new fire

station.

“It will definitely reduce any profit we will get,” Strader said. “We

think that is what needs to be done in response to Greenlight.”

If city leaders and voters approve the Koll project, the new building

and parking structures could be built by fall of 2003, Strader said.

“We think there’s a demand in the market place for this kind of

space,” he said.

While saying that he didn’t know all of the specifics of the

agreement, Councilman Tod Ridgeway said Strader would probably not get

his project beyond City Hall without pledging funds to help solve the

traffic problem.

“The single biggest concern is traffic generation in the area,”

Ridgeway said. “And Tim is going a long way toward alleviating the

problem” by offering to pay fees.

Other city officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Phil Arst, a spokesman for Greenlight supporters, said he has met with

Strader to discuss the project. But he added the Greenlight group would

not comment on the proposal before a meeting of its members Monday.

If city leaders end up approving the project, the developers also will

have to carry the costs of the special election. At $1.25 to $2 per

registered voters, it would set the group back $58,000 to $94,000.

On top of that come campaign expenditures, but Strader said it was too

early to think about how much money it would take to sell the project to

the voters.

“I don’t plan on focusing on that aspect until it’s been approved” by

city officials, he said.

Strader added the group favors paying for an election rather than

waiting for the next scheduled one to avoid a mix-up with an initiative

opposing an airport at El Toro, which is likely to appear on the ballot

in March.

Officials for two other development projects in the city that could

face Greenlight elections said Thursday that their plans were still on

hold.

As a result of the economy’s slowdown, Conexant Systems Inc. officials

have decided to postpone a 566,000-square-foot expansion until business

picks up again, said Lisa Briggs, a company spokeswoman.

And Tim Quinn, the project manager for the Newport Dunes Resort, said

he’s still focusing on building a $40-million hotel in San Diego.

He added that he didn’t know when he’d return to working on his

581,000-square-foot expansion project in Newport Beach.

By eliminating about 26,000 square feet of the project, the Dunes

could avoid a Greenlight vote.

Question

Green light?

Were a special election were held today, would you approve of Koll

Center’s 250,000-square-foot expansion?

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