Dick Nichols: Fighting giveaways for development

June Casagrande

For Newport Beach City Council candidate Dick Nichols, some of the

biggest threats to resident’s quality of life are found in fine

print.

For example, he said, you have to look closely at the effects of

big development to see all the ways these projects hurt the little

guy. Large projects take up a huge proportion of the traffic allowed

under to the city’s Traffic Phasing Ordinance. This, in turn, hurts

smaller property owners whose pre-approved rights to build on their

own property is put in jeopardy because the bigger developments

created more than their share of traffic impacts.

“The person hurt the most by this is the medium-sized business

owner,” said Nichols, a 30-year Newport Beach resident endorsed by

the controlled-growth Greenlight camp for the District 6 council seat

to be vacated by Dennis O’Neil.

And there’s another devil in the details, Nichols said: When you

give away rights to build more square footage on a property than

originally approved, you are, in a sense, giving away money.

“Rights to build can be measured in dollars, sometimes about $100

a square foot, so when you give away a right to build 2 million extra

square feet, that’s a $200 million giveaway, and that’s not right,”

he said.

Nichols, a mathematician, arrived at the 2 million square-foot

figure by adding up recent proposals for some large developments,

including an expanded Newport Dunes Resort Hotel, Newport Center and

the Koll Project. His figures include only the difference between

originally approved square footage and the developers’ requests for

expanded developments.

“Zoning is definitely my big issue,” Nichols said. “These are

giveaways.”

As such, he finds it ironic that some have tried to label the

Greenlight movement as somehow opposed to property rights. On the

contrary, he said, the movement tries to protect smaller property

owners’ rights when owners of larger properties take more than their

rights allow.

Nichols also said that controlling John Wayne Airport expansion is

critical. A pressing threat he sees is that federal authorities could

change their current flight requirements that make pilots take off at

a steep angle. If those rules were relaxed, it could mean that huge

portions of Newport Beach will have flight noise greater than 65

decibels. And, under state rules, any property subjected to these

noise levels have the right to sue, Nichols explained.

“Newport Beach could be devastated,” he said. “We need airport

sound protections.”

Also high on Nichols’ priority list is creating more playing

fields for kids. He said the city might consider negotiating with

some schools, such as Corona del Mar High School, to develop and

share currently unused land adjacent to their campuses.

*

DICK NICHOLS

AGE: 63 on Friday

OCCUPATION: Engineer

FAMILY: Married to Sandy; three grown children; one grandson.

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees all from

Northwestern University.

COMMUNITY SERVICE: Longtime Republican party activist on state and

local levels including as president of the Republican Assembly for

Corona del Mar; former director, Air Pollution Control Assn. of

Southern California; member, National Fire Protection Agency; member

American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

IMPORTANT INFLUENCE: “My dad. He taught me how to work with my

hands.”