Annexation hinges on millions

June Casagrande

Pretty much everyone who has weighed in so far agrees: The city of

Newport Beach can do a much better job of spending Santa Ana Heights’

millions in redevelopment money than the county can.

Even Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva thinks so.

“I think that it would be easier for the city of Newport Beach to

administer the redevelopment agency,” Silva said. “It would cut an

awful lot of red tape.”

City officials met with Silva last week in hopes of eventually

convincing the county board of supervisors to approve handing over

the redevelopment agency to the city. The agency has about $30

million set aside to make improvements to the Santa Ana Heights area,

as well as several million a year through 2035 from property taxes.

East Santa Ana Heights is already slated to become part of Newport

Beach. West Santa Ana Heights is being considered for membership in

the city, and city officials have said that taking control of the

redevelopment agency’s finances is a deal-breaker for that

annexation.

Regardless of who manages it, the money must be spent in the

redevelopment area.

“I believe we can spend that money faster than the county and get

the area up to speed faster,” Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

The money will go toward improving streets, sewer lines, a fire

station and possibly a community center. But there are a lot of

details to be worked out before everyone will agree to put

redevelopment in the city’s hands.

One of the trickiest points involves John Wayne Airport. The

airport is part of the redevelopment area and is its biggest

contributor -- about $6 million a year of the airport’s taxes go to

the redevelopment agency. The city hopes to keep it that way. But

that could be difficult because the airport is the only portion of

the redevelopment area that’s not slated to be annexed to Newport

Beach. Thus, if Newport Beach annexes all of Santa Ana Heights and

takes over its redevelopment agency, the largest chunk of money

coming into the agency will be from the airport, which is outside the

city.

“We’re committed to working out the details in a way that’s fair

to everyone,” Silva said, emphasizing that the airport will remain in

the county.

Even many residents are optimistic that they can strike a good

deal with the city, but with some reservations.

“At this point, as a community, we’re willing to say to the city:

Convince us as best you can that you’re able to administer this in a

way that’s more acceptable to us than what we’ve had. If they can do

that, then we support this,” said Roger Summers, president of the

resident group that represents residents to the redevelopment agency.

Summers said that residents want reassurances that the city will

not disrupt projects now being planned by the county redevelopment

agency. These projects include putting utilities underground,

creating a horse arena and improving things like drainage, sidewalks

and fire hydrants. Summers also said he wants reassurances that the

city won’t derail the residents’ plans for a community center and

that the residents will get a good deal on a fire station.

The city wants to pay for a fire station in the area exclusively

with redevelopment money, even though the fire station would serve

areas that are already part of Newport Beach. Summers said that the

agency’s contribution to the fire station should be proportionate to

service calls in the redevelopment area.

“They’re trying to suggest that we should pay for as much as 80%

to 100%, but what if only 30% of calls go to the project area? Is

that fair?” Summers asked.