Greenlight’s sweep could get larger

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Greenlight, an initiative that backs up the city’s

general plan, might instead trump it.

As the process of updating the general plan gets underway, observers

are wondering whether Greenlight could send the whole matter to the

ballot box. The initiative says that any development large enough to

require an amendment to the city’s general plan must go to a vote of the

people. So what happens when the document itself is being amended? That

depends, slow-growth advocates say, on whether the amendments would allow

significantly more development.

“It will depend on what they propose to do to the general plan,” said

Allan Beek, a pro-Greenlight activist and member of the city’s General

Plan Update Committee. “If they increaseallocated floor area permitted by

the land-use element, then, yes, it would trigger Greenlight. It would

mean a referendum.”

Beginning with a Jan. 12 “visioning” festival designed to get

residents involved in updating the general plan, the city will begin its

major overhaul of the document. The plan, which governs everything from

development to tourism to coastal access to traffic, hasn’t been updated

since 1988. The visioning process is estimated to cost about $500,000.

The plan’s land-use element specifies what can be built where, with

varying requirements for different areas of the city. Adding teeth to

these guidelines, the city’s Greenlight Initiative requires that a

special election be held to decide on projects that add more than 40,000

square feet of building space, 100 peak-hour car trips or 100 homes above

what the city’s general plan allows.

“If the net result is to amend what’s is already there, exceeding the

40,000 square foot limit, you’re going to have a vote,” City Councilman

John Heffernan said.

Developer Tim Strader, whose Koll Center expansion project was shot

down by voters in November in the first ballot test of Greenlight, has

said he plans to participate in the general plan update process in hopes

of moving his $50-million project ahead. That project seeks to add

250,000 square feet to the existing Koll Center near the airport.

“This whole update is also a time for developers to make a pitch for

changes they want too,” said Heffernan. “The update could allow more

development in the airport area.”

Heffernan, a Greenlight supporter, last year argued that the Koll

project decision should have been postponed until after the general plan

update process was complete.

Activists say they will keep a close watch on the update process to

make sure it doesn’t allow developments that violate the spirit of

Greenlight.

“Needless to say, we’re watching them, and we have warned them,” Beek

said.

But officials say their goal will continue to be updating the plan in

the best interest of the city’s future.

“I just don’t want to see this limit our creative thinking,” Assistant

City Manager Sharon Wood said. “What ought to come out of the process is

what people think is best for the city.”

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

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

FYI

* WHAT: Vision Festival to kick of general plan update process

* WHEN: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 12

* WHERE: Hoag Conference Center, 1 Hoag Drive

* CALL: (949) 644-3200 or o7 www.nbvision2025.comf7