Growth is chief concern

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- Former Costa Mesa Mayor Sandy Genis is used to hearing

the constant hum of traffic. To cope, she compares it to something

positive.

“I always tell myself it’s just like living near a river,” Genis said.

So she was not surprised at the results of a recent Orange County

survey that showed the most significant concerns of residents are

growth-related issues -- even surpassing crime and education.

This is the 20th year of the survey, published by the Public Policy

Institute of California and conducted by a former UC Irvine professor. It

found that 21% of Orange County residents cite the combination of

population growth and development as the number one problem. The El Toro

Airport was the second growth-related concern followed by housing issues

and transportation. The results are based on a telephone survey of 2,004

Orange County adult residents interviewed from Aug. 20 to Aug. 31.

The survey’s results are significant because they reflect what is

already evident to many residents -- that a jobs/housing imbalance and

traffic tie-ups are inevitable byproducts of unchecked growth.

Costa Mesa already has an imbalance of 2,000 more jobs than resident

workers, according to Genis. Yet she is opposed to the idea of a freeway

from Riverside County to Orange County that would help correct that

imbalance since it would run smack through the Cleveland National Forest.

Genis is also opposed to the controversial Home Ranch project, which

was just approved by the Planning Commission, for a site on a former lima

bean farm off the San Diego freeway. The mixed-use project includes

industrial, residential and commercial projects including a 308,000

square-foot Ikea furniture store.

Genis said the project will generate twice as much traffic as the

city’s 1990 general plan allows for the site.

In Newport Beach, Mayor Gary Adams was likewise not surprised by the

survey’s results. He sees the growth concerns as affirmation of the

Greenlight initiative that residents passed last year to have some

oversight on development.

The Greenlight measure requires residents to vote on development above

the general plan entitlement. The Cole office project will be the first

issue to go to voters in November.

Adams said Newport Beach is virtually built out in terms of housing.

He expects the review of an upcoming housing project to provoke

controversy because of anti-growth sentiment.

“People don’t care about housing in Newport Beach. They don’t want

anything to change,” Adams said.

The survey also found that 65% of Orange County residents believe that

population increases will make the county a less desirable place to live

in the future with high housing costs and traffic congestion as top

concerns.

Yet there is still a high percentage of residents that are satisfied

with the quality of life in Orange County -- 67% say they are very

satisfied with their housing situation, an 11-point increase over 10

years ago.

For Genis, however, satisfaction will come when certain cities find

some equilibrium between jobs and housing.

“If we took Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Irvine and El Toro and got

their jobs and housing in balance, we wouldn’t even be talking about new

connections to Riverside County. Just these four cities are really bad

and it bothers me because my city is a big part of the problem,” Genis

said.