Activist wants vote on annexation

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Allan Beek just wants to know.

The Newport Beach community activist said he realizes that a citywide

poll on the annexation of Newport Coast won’t legally bind City Council

members in their final decision on the matter.

“But it would give a very clear indication” of how residents felt

about annexing the affluent neighborhood south of the city, where about

2,671 people live.

That’s why Beek suggested during Tuesday’s council meeting that city

leaders should put a measure on the Nov. 20 ballot. A special election is

already scheduled for that date to decide the fate of a

250,000-square-foot expansion project at Koll Center.

Beek said the measure should ask residents if Newport Beach should

drop its annexation plans of Newport Coast. He added that about 20

members of the steering committee for the watchdog group Stop Polluting

Our Newport also support the idea.

In September, council members unanimously approved plans to annex

Newport Coast, along with Santa Ana Heights and Bay Knolls. While

annexation of the latter two areas has been pushed back to mid-2002,

Newport Coast could become part of Newport Beach by Jan. 1.

Residents who live in the unincorporated territory still must vote on

the plan later this year after an Orange County agency that’s responsible

for annexations makes its ruling on Newport Beach’s application.

Beek’s opposition to the annexation became public in April, when he

told council members that the move would profoundly change the character

of Newport Beach.

“Our votes will be diluted by a huge population with no interest in

our bay and beaches, and most of whom will probably be opposed to an

airport at El Toro,” he said.

Following the council meeting, Beek, who played an instrumental role

in leading Greenlight, the city’s new slow-growth law, to victory in

November, said grass-roots campaigns such as Greenlight won’t be able to

succeed in Newport Coast.

“It’s not the kind of community where we can do our political work

in,” he said, adding that residents there live in gated communities that

prevent activists from leaving fliers at doorsteps.

Wealthier political groups that can afford to send mailers would have

an advantage, Beek said.

City Hall folks didn’t seem too impressed with the idea of polling

residents on the annexation.

Councilman Tod Ridgeway said he opposes a ballot measure because there

isn’t enough time to educate voters about the issues that are involved.

And like Ridgeway, Councilman Steve Bromberg said he felt comfortable

that residents would get a chance to have their say.

“I think we’ll be OK with hearing from the people,” Bromberg said.

Even Councilman John Heffernan, who said a poll would be consistent

with Greenlight because it would give residents a chance to comment on an

event that will have a major effect on the city’s future, didn’t think

Beek’s proposal would go far.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to happen,” he said. “Not with this

council.”

Councilman Dennis O’Neil said he and his colleagues wouldn’t annex

Newport Coast if residents opposed such a move.

But “why do we have to have an election on this?” he asked. “Why do we

want to do that? Why even have council people?”

Besides, O’Neil said he had not seen a public outcry against the

annexation plans.

That might change, countered Beek, who said council members might

change their mind on the poll when residents start pressuring them about

such a referendum.

“I just think it might happen,” he said.

* Mathis Winkler covers Newport Beach. He may be reached at (949)

754-4232 or by e-mail at mathis.winkler@latimes.com.