Change made to Greenlight sample ballot

NEWPORT BEACH -- Responding to an activist’s allegation that a map to

be included in a sample ballot for the first Greenlight election is

biased, city officials have changed the map and given residents an extra

10 days to review it.

In a letter to the City Council, Greenlight representative Phil Arst

protested the city’s decision to include in November’s Measure G election

materials a map of the proposed Koll Center expansion.

He said the map, which came from the developer, made it appear that

the project is in Irvine instead of Newport Beach. Arst also said that,

because the map was not submitted with other ballot materials until after

a 10-day public review period had passed, it is unauthorized.

“Because this map doesn’t have a scale of miles, it doesn’t clearly

show voters just how close this project will come to Newport Beach

homes,” he said, noting that the nearest house is just a half mile from

the site.

In response, the city has in fact made some changes to the map, said

City Manager Homer Bludau.

City officials moved the word “Irvine” on the map and added the name

“Newport Beach” to make the city’s proximity to the project clearer,

Bludau said.

He added he did not support Arst’s request to remove the map entirely

from the sample ballot that will be in the mail to about 50,000

registered voters in the city by Oct. 30.

“I believe the map is useful in terms of its purpose to educate

voters,” Bludau said. “A map showing where the project is located is

helpful information.”

Arst’s allegation that the map is in violation of the election code

casts light on some gray area in those rules. The only place in the

election code that mentions maps is in its section governing state

elections. For this reason, the city clerk used this section as a

guideline.

“I don’t believe it’s an illegal map,” City Clerk LaVonne Harkless

said. She added that the choice was also guided by advice from the city’s

election consultant and city attorney Bob Burnham.

Though ballot materials have already been submitted to the county’s

board of elections, the sample ballots have not yet been printed. In the

interim, city officials added an extra 10-day review period, which began

Sept. 20, for residents to consider the ballot materials.

Arst said that guidelines for state elections don’t necessarily apply

to a municipal election.

“We feel the whole handling of the ballot pamphlet is biased and we’re

protesting,” said Arst, who led an unsuccessful fight to include

rebuttals to the pro and con arguments in the sample ballot.

The Nov. 20 special election on Measure G, which will determine

whether the Koll Center expansion moves forward, is a result of the

Greenlight initiative. That initiative requires voter approval for

developments large enough to require an amendment to the city’s general

plan.