No half-measures in ballot debate

Since 2000 and unlike in most cities, Newport Beach residents have the right to vote on major developments. Supporters of Measure X, an issue on the city’s Nov. 7 ballot, say their initiative will protect that right.

At the polls next month, city voters will decide on Measure V, an update to the city’s general plan that will guide development over the next 20 years. But they’ll also make a choice on Measure X, which could dramatically alter how much development is allowed.

The general plan sets development limits — it’s the reason why people can’t build two extra houses on a single family lot, for example — but those limits typically can be changed by city government.

But in Newport, since residents voted in 2000 to change the city charter, a public vote is required for developments over a certain size. That rule from 2000 is known as Greenlight, after the group that proposed it, and Measure X is its follow-up.

Under the original Greenlight rule, a development must go to a vote if it adds more than 100 homes, 40,000 square feet of building space or 100 peak-hour car trips to what is allowed in the general plan.

Measure X goes further, requiring a vote when the same amount of homes, square feet or trips are added to existing development in the city.

The new measure is needed as a protection against the general plan update, which will let the city’s population swell by 20% and pack city streets with new traffic, Greenlight spokesman Phil Arst said.

But do voters care enough to read up on proposed projects and actually cast ballots? Arst thinks so.

The previous Greenlight votes were “overwhelmingly against” the two developments, the Koll Center and Marinapark, that went to the ballot, he said.

“They’re not going to wade through the thick volumes [of information], but they know if the Irvine Co. wants to put up another office building in Newport Center and taxpayers have to pay to improve the roads, it’s not too much of a mental exercise to figure out how to vote on that,” he said.

In most cities, elected representatives make development decisions. Newport is different, Arst argued, because the council has shown itself to be pro-development and residents don’t feel it represents their interests.

“People in Newport don’t trust the council anymore,” he said.

But Measure X opponents say the initiative has major problems that could cost the city millions in litigation and could subject homeowners to its strictures.

A city analysis showed the measure would affect 65% of residentially zoned properties, which Arst admitted was an oversight. He counters that city officials themselves said a situation where a homeowner would need a vote to add on to a house is extremely unlikely.

The biggest problem with Measure X is that the city would be required to defend it against legal challenges, so the city — and thus, taxpayers — could end up paying millions of dollars in damages, said Dennis O’Neil, a former Newport Beach mayor who is heading the anti-X campaign.

“Measure X is flawed with provisions that are unfair, unenforceable and invite litigation,” he said.

The city would have to pay for the elections Measure X requires, and if anyone feels the rule unjustly hurt their property values, there will be lawsuits, he said.

There’s no way to know how many elections would be required because they depend on what projects are proposed. Under the original Greenlight rule, there have been two votes in six years.

But the earlier measure allowed people to play by the rules: They could develop their property as permitted in the general plan, or they could ask for something bigger or denser and go to a vote, O’Neil said.

With Measure X, he said, “You can’t do anything with your land unless we have a vote on it.”