Newport Beach has a plan

Tod Ridgeway

In regard to Dolores Otting’s Watchdog column “Newport in need of

real planning” on Sunday’s Forum pages:

The sky is not falling!

Similar to the familiar fairy tale, Otting implies in her Forum

piece that the city should not be moving forward with the replacement

of City Hall and fire station and the construction of a parking

structure for a total cost of $41.5 million because of other pending

needs.

Yes, there are some potential infrastructure replacements on the

horizon, but this is not unusual. The city routinely funds $30 to $40

million in capital improvements each year, including key projects

such as the Arches Bridge replacement, Bonita Canyon Sports Park,

Mariners Library, Big Canyon Reservoir cover and disinfection

facilities improvements to improve water quality.

And yes, Rep. Chris Cox was instrumental in getting $800,000 in

federal assistance for the reservoir project. The debt service for

the City Hall, fire station, and parking structure project will cost

us less than 2% -- less than $3 million a year -- of our annual city

operating budget.

Whether it is waterline replacements, sewer pump station upgrades,

bridge replacements, arterial highway and local street paving

projects, improved traffic signal coordination, park design and

construction, or bay and ocean water quality improvements, this city

has delivered important infrastructure improvements and replacement

in a cost effective and timely manner.

We agree that, in the future, we will need to address the

replacement of the 30-year-old police station (parts of City Hall are

almost 60 years old), fire stations in Corona del Mar and on the

Balboa Peninsula, the Oasis Center, build some new parks and other

key infrastructure.

Today, we have funded a new Mariner’s Library using a state

library grant and generous private donations; a fire station in Santa

Ana Heights that is primarily funded by county redevelopment funds;

and a community center in Newport Coast that will be paid for with

annexation agreement funds. The Sunset Ridge lease payments will be

$1 per year, not the $1 million for 15 years that Otting stated.

City infrastructure replacements will always be a priority and

today’s new facility is tomorrow’s replacement project. To date, the

city has an excellent track record in the timely funding of

replacement infrastructure.

We have master plans and 20-year replacement programs for our

water system, sewer system, streets and highways, drainage systems

and bridges. Buildings wear out too; therefore, we are planning

several building replacements over future budgets. As always, city

staff will seek grant funding opportunities, cooperative cost saving

projects and creative solutions to leverage our city dollars for

future infrastructure projects.

The city has received millions of dollars in grant funds, Measure

M and other contributions to supplement our capital improvement

budget over the years.

So, to say we have no plan is like running around like Chicken

Little. We have responsible elected officials directing quality

people who do responsible planning and fiscal planning that will take

us into the next 100 years.

Newport Beach is one of the most financially stable and fiscally

conservative cities in the state. It didn’t get that way without a

plan!

Tod Ridgeway is a Newport Beach city councilman.