Annexation opponent pushes for inclusion

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Weeks after a failed court challenge to the city’s bid to annex

Newport Coast, a leader of the opposition has said he hopes to be named

to the city’s soon-to-be-formed Newport Coast Advisory Committee.

But the idea has already drawn some controversy, especially in light

of the court fight against annexation that could be ongoing.

Phillip Greer, the Newport Coast resident who temporarily stopped

annexation in its tracks last month by producing hundreds of opponents’

signatures, has been named by Mayor Tod Ridgeway as a possible alternate

member of the committee -- a move that drew protest from Councilwoman

Norma Glover.

“I wouldn’t agree with that,” she said Dec. 11 as the council agreed

to postpone until Jan. 8 a vote to create the committee.

Greer said he wants to be a full member of the committee.

The committee, whose members are appointed by the mayor, would likely

include Jim McGee and Daniel Wampole, both of whom served on the

Committee of 2000, a citizen group that supported annexation.

“I don’t think that group was ever really representative of the

residents here,” Greer said. “While they were communicating with people

mainly through e-mail and a Web site, we were out knocking on doors,

talking to more than 1,000 people.”

Greer is part of a group called A Simple Vote, which he said includes

more than a dozen active members and communicates regularly with about

1,000 neighbors. The group opposed annexing their community of about

2,600 homes to Newport Beach not because members didn’t want to be part

of the city, but because they felt the matter should have been decided by

a vote among Newport Coast residents.

This was also the group that took annexation to court -- and might do

so again. Greer said members will likely meet next week to discuss

whether to push the matter in court.

But Greer said that recent attempts by the city to work in cooperation

with A Simple Vote have allayed some members’ fears that their voices

won’t be heard. These moves, plus appointing Greer to the committee as an

alternate member or full member, could render a court fight unnecessary,

he said.

“We felt really excluded from the process, but the city is doing a

really masterful job of trying to bring us back in,” Greer said. “These

kind of overtures go a long way.”

The committee will help the city decide Newport Coast issues, such as

whether to build a community center, how to maintain parks and roads, and

how to deal with a proposal to build townhomes near Newport Coast Drive

and San Joaquin Road.

Greer suggested that, instead of building a community center, the city

use a portion of a $7-million set-aside to build a pedestrian bridge for

Newport Coast Elementary School students to cross Newport Coast Drive.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .