Silva takes over Newport Beach

Paul Clinton

SANTA ANA -- Newport Beach switched county bosses Tuesday as the

Orange County Board of Supervisors approved new district boundaries that

moved the city into Jim Silva’s district.

However, whether Newport Coast will also be moved into Silva’s

district is still an open question after the supervisors received a

letter from Secretary of State Bill Jones informing them that Tuesday was

the last day to submit the new map.

Jones’ letter threw a wrench into the county’s redistricting process.

County Counsel Laurence Watson had advised the board it had until Aug. 31

to submit the new map.

With that in mind, Silva said he had hoped to bring the map back next

week to make the adjustment for the 2,600 or so residents living in the

coast community.

“I’m not sure if we’re going to meet the guidelines of state law,”

Silva said. “The map is in place. The question is, will we be able to

make the adjustments. If I can legally do it, I will do it.”

Residents of that community, as well as Newport Beach city leaders,

have urged the board to put it in Silva’s district. That way, when the

city completes its likely annexation of the area in January, Newport

Beach won’t be a divided city.

At the board meeting, Silva proposed a swap that would move Newport

Coast into his district in exchange for the western tip of Westminster.

Other supervisors wanted minor tweaks to the map as well, with Cynthia

Coad asking for a section of Anaheim.

As a result of the confusion, only three supervisors approved the map

Tuesday. Supervisor Todd Spitzer voted against the map, and Coad

abstained.

Wilson, in his public comments, urged residents in the affected areas

to accept the situation.

“We should adhere to the law and do our best to comfort our

constituents,” Wilson said. “It will not in the long run make a huge

difference in how these cities and communities are represented.”

In the new map, only two cities in the county -- Anaheim and Garden

Grove -- are split between more than one district, compared with 13 in

the previous alignment.

Jim McGee, the chairman of Newport Coast Committee of 2000, said he

was troubled by Tuesday’s development. McGee urged the board to find a

way to get his community into Silva’s district, saying it is “bad

government” to split cities.

“I am concerned if it can’t be changed,” McGee said, “because then it

will be a o7 fait accomplif7 that we will be split from the rest of

the city.”

Also on Tuesday, the board approved a program to restore more than

eight acres of wetlands of the 92-acre Talbert Nature Preserve. The

county would use state habitat conservation funds to fund half of the

cost of the $160,000 project.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .

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