State can raise stakes on land transfer

Alicia Robinson

Newport Beach city officials have been dreaming for more than three

years of creating Sunset Ridge Park at Coast Highway and Superior

Avenue. On Monday, the cost of that dream got a lot more expensive.

The city wants to build the park on about 18 acres of land now

owned by Caltrans, but getting it done has been a legislative

labyrinth.

In 2001 state legislators agreed on a bill to transfer the

property to the state parks department. Newport Beach would have paid

the state $1.35 million for the property -- the price the state

originally paid for it -- and would have leased it as park land for a

nominal fee.

But on Monday the assembly passed a new bill that says the state

can charge fair market value for the Caltrans parcel as well as a

number of other state-owned pieces of surplus land.

A spokesman for the state Department of General Services, which is

handling surplus property sales, wouldn’t disclose a new price for

the Caltrans land, but Newport Beach assistant city manager Dave Kiff

said he was told it could go to $18 million.

City officials want the state to honor the lower price. It wasn’t

a sweetheart deal, Kiff said -- the state constitution allows coastal

lands to be sold at their original purchase price if they’ll be

turned into public parks.

But the state has been looking to bring in some money through

selling off its surplus properties, and $1.35 million is small

potatoes for land on the coast in Newport Beach.

“Part of the purpose in seeking fair market value for all our

properties is to ensure that the taxpayers of California get a good

return on their investment,” said Matt Bender, a spokesman for the

Department of General Services.

The state is in discussions with Newport Beach about what the

property is really worth. If the land doesn’t become a park, existing

zoning allows development of as many as 135 units of single-family

attached housing, Kiff said.

The City Council tonight will consider a lease for the park

property, and building the park facilities should cost between $5

million and $6 million. But Newport Beach officials are still waiting

to hear the state’s price tag for the land.

“The only thing I can think of is that they’re going to propose

that we pay more money,” Kiff said. “Paying more money is not a win.”

The bill that requires fair market value for the property will go

to the Senate next, and the city is enlisting Sen. John Campbell’s

help to make changes there.

“What we’re talking about now is that they would pay more for the

property but they would own it,” Campbell said. “That’s one of the

things we’re trying to make happen here.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson

@latimes.com.