NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL PREVIEW

Here are some items the council will consider tonight.

CITY HALL SITES

Architect Bill Ficker will give a presentation at the study session about his proposal to build a new city hall at an intended park site next to the main library on Avocado Avenue. Park supporters will counter by detailing plans for the park, which has been designed to include outdoor seating, landscaping and walking trails.

Although the council voted in December to nix the park site from a list of possible city hall locations, Ficker has recently talked up his plan enough to get the council to hear it. Before council members agreed in late June to let Ficker give a presentation, they were poised to approve the current City Hall site on the Balboa Peninsula as the place to rebuild.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Council members will hear Ficker’s presentation today but will not make a decision until they get more information at their July 25 meeting.

MARINE MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

Councilman Keith Curry in April proposed putting up in Newport a monument to the Marine battalion the city adopted in 2003. Today the council will vote on the formation of a committee to consider the best way to honor those in the battalion who have died in combat.

The seven-member committee, including a council member and two representatives of a separate committee that helps the Marines and their families, would suggest how to honor fallen Marines, where to put a memorial and how much it might cost.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The council will likely agree to form the committee.

SUGAR RAY CONTRACT

The council will consider hiring Newport Beach native rockers Sugar Ray to play at the closing event of the city’s year-long centennial celebration. It would cost the city $60,000 to get the band to headline the Oct. 8 event at the Newport Pier.

Other acts already are lined up at both piers, where bands will play simultaneous shows. Headlining at the Balboa Pier is Dick Dale, also from Newport Beach.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The council probably will hire the band for the event, which also will include games, food and fireworks.

BALLOT INITIATIVE

A citizen-backed ballot measure that would put some development projects to a public vote is up for council discussion. The Greenlight citizens’ committee, which is backing the measure, collected enough signatures to qualify for the fall ballot, so the council must vote to place it there.

Council members also will receive a report on possible impacts of the measure if it is passed. Those include legal challenges and added costs to handle development proposals.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Since the alternative is to adopt the measure, the council will probably place it on the November ballot.

? Compiled by Alicia Robinson