Fall ballot vote for city hall site goes to wire

With a Friday deadline to place issues on the fall ballot looming, the Newport Beach City Council late Tuesday had not decided whether to let voters choose in November if they want a city hall on a proposed park site.

Four of the seven council members seemed opposed to a November vote though they disagreed on whether the park site should be studied further. The other option is rebuilding at the current Balboa Peninsula location.

Councilman Tod Ridgeway, who has long advocated rebuilding at the current site, said the council should stand by its earlier commitment to a park at the Avocado Avenue lot. “I feel a moral obligation to the community at large to stay with what we voted on,” he said. “Why are we trying to punt this, why are we trying to avoid making a decision on this?”

Councilman Steve Rosansky agreed that the city hall site is a decision for the council to make. He said: “I think that if we’re going to put this project to a vote of the residents we need to do the homework up front. There needs to be an affirmative vote of the city council to put the city hall there.”

The issue remains in limbo after months of public debate and several delays for further study. City officials began discussing replacing the aged and decrepit City Hall in early 2005.

After plans for a $48 million civic center at the current site were drawn up ? including a new fire station and parking garage ? residents complained that other sites hadn’t been considered and council members backpedaled, ordering a study of other possible sites.

They ended up back at the original site. Then architect Bill Ficker proposed an estimated $27.5-million city hall on a 12.8-acre site next to the main library.

Some said the site is a better choice because it’s more central than the existing City Hall, but park supporters protested that the site has been slated for a park for at least a decade. The council had voted in November to take that site out of consideration for a city hall.

The council chambers last night was packed with residents wearing buttons that read, “Save the Park.”

A staff report for Tuesday’s meeting showed a city hall at the park site probably wouldn’t create major traffic problems, but Ficker’s rough plan could cost several million dollars more than estimated because of required excavation and retaining walls.

A public vote also would be needed to build at the park site, either on a charter amendment, or a Measure S vote because of the building’s size.

The Irvine Co. would have to agree to the new use, because it gave the parcel to the city for a park as part of a 1993 agreement.

But the existing City Hall site has its own drawbacks. Workers will have to move twice ? to other offices during construction, and then back when the new facility is done ? at an estimated cost of $2 million.

Some complain the Newport Boulevard complex is far from the center of the city and inconvenient to get to.