City hall plans veer back toward library

Remember the plan to build a city hall next to the Newport Beach Central Library? It’s back — or at least it could be.

A 12-acre parcel on Avocado Avenue by the library has long been slated as a park. Newport Beach City Council members have twice rejected it as a city hall site, in December 2005 and July 2006.

But now the property appears to be back in play.

Councilman Ed Selich is urging a vote at the council’s next meeting on development of the park, which has been slow. But his request led Councilman Don Webb to ask that the park decision be delayed until after a city hall site is chosen.

Webb said Wednesday he’s heard from people in the community who want the park property in the mix with city hall locations. One of them is Bill Ficker, who pitched a city hall plan using the park site last year and recently submitted a petition with about 40 signatures supporting reconsideration of the site.

And other sites in Newport Center, where some want city hall built, don’t seem to be panning out.

The city would have to buy land adjacent to an Orange County Transportation Authority bus terminal to build there, Webb said, and the city police station site on Santa Barbara Drive would require a multi-story building and a large parking garage.

“We do not have a site yet that is looking like it’s feasible,” Webb said. “Do I have a preference? I would like to keep the options open on the area north of the library.”

But Selich and park supporters aren’t likely to give up. Plans for the park are close to complete, the council budgeted $200,000 this year to develop the park, and a donor is waiting to give $600,000 to the effort, Selich said.

“It’s zoned, dedicated and planned as a park,” he said. “It has just as much status … as any park in town. It just doesn’t have grass on it yet.”

To discuss the park site for a city hall, however, would require the council to reconsider its previous decision, something that doesn’t happen often.

The council will vote on Selich’s and Webb’s proposals for the park land at its Feb. 27 meeting.