From the Newsroom -- Tony Dodero

It’s hard not to admire Newport Beach’s Greenlight crowd.

They care deeply about their community and its future. They are

devoted toward a common goal -- to maintain that ambience and beauty that

attracted them to this seaside community in the first place.

And they fight hard for it.

Most people in this town owe them a great deal of thanks, but

sometimes I worry they don’t know when to say when.

Wednesday marks one year ago that these Greenlighters gave big

development a big shove out of town with a landslide ballot box message.

The Greenlight Initiative enacted into law a measure that took approval

for projects that exceed certain general plan limits out of the council’s

hands and transferred them into the hands of voters.

It was a remarkable victory and a tough loss for local business.

End of game right? Because now, when it comes to development, the

voters will do the talking and who can argue with them when they give a

big thumbs down, right?

Well, maybe not.

Greenlight is heading for its first big test Nov. 20 with the Koll

Center expansion on the ballot.

But when that expansion came before the Newport Beach City Council,

the Greenlight leadership, which counts among them such noteworthy folks

as Jean Watt, Evelyn Hart, Phil Arst, Allan Beek and Tom Hyans, urged the

council to not even put the project up for voter approval.

Why?

That seems contrary to arguments made by the Greenlighters last

November that they didn’t want to stop growth in its tracks, only to keep

it in check by giving the voters power over the council.

One recent, beautiful Newport Beach day, I had lunch with some

Greenlight stalwarts, Arst, George Jeffries and Michael Hirsch, at the

Back Bay Cafe -- just a stone’s throw away from their nemesis, the Dunes

resort.

Why are some of these folks, many of them developers themselves,

captains of industry, so anti-development now?

Why are they so opposed to this Koll Center expansion -- which will

create much-needed jobs and revenue and is a whole lot closer to John

Wayne Airport than it is to the calm waters of Newport Harbor -- that

they didn’t even want to see it on the ballot?

Just like November a year ago, it all comes down to three words:

Quality of life.

In between bites of our sandwiches and salads, Jeffries, a retired

attorney and Newport library board trustee, eloquently spoke of what he

saw as the Koll project’s flaws and what he calls “detriments” to the

residents.

“Our beach-side community has been designed for its fill of high-rise

office buildings,” he wrote in an e-mail to me after our meeting. “Let

them go elsewhere. Our residential property values are based upon our

quality of life. Nothing should be done which impairs it.”

Jeffries and the Greenlighters insist, among their many complaints,

that Koll’s payment of about $3 million won’t be enough to foot the bill

for the increased traffic that will stream through city streets, not just

in the airport area; that the revenue projections are minimal and not

worth the cost; and that there will be increased pollution and increased

office space near the airport bringing in more demand for airport

services and perhaps pressure to expand.

The three gentlemen noted that Greenlight opposed the development at

the council level because it doesn’t jibe with the city’s general plan,

which is undergoing changes as we speak.

All good arguments, but, really, isn’t that the point?

While Greenlight’s call to take government decisions out of

government’s hands is a chilling thought to many of us on one hand, the

idea that voters can make their own choices does have an appealing

democratic allure to it on the other.

If the Greenlighters have good arguments against the development, let

the voters hear it. If Koll has good arguments to make for its project,

let the voters hear it.

Greenlight is the law of the land and that was a big victory. The

Greenlighters carried the day, but now it’s time for the voters to send a

message again.

And in two weeks, we’ll hear loud and clear what they have to say.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages

either via e-mail to o7 tony.dodero@latimes.com f7 or by phone at

949-574-4258.