EDITORIAL:

Study the site.

That’s all we really wanted to see the Newport Beach City Council do, and it looks like that’s what is going to happen after all.

The site in question is the proposed Newport Center Park. The study we are talking about is the feasibility of whether a new city hall can be built on two to three acres of that 12-acre parcel.

That’s all Bill Ficker wanted as well.

Ficker, if you don’t already know, is the longtime Newport resident and architect who has designed plans for a new city hall on the land, which is already owned by the city.

To us, Ficker’s plan looks like a slam dunk. It saves money, it centralizes city hall, it enhances the library area with a world-class civic center.

But we’re not city planners. Hence the reason city planners should give it a thorough study.

Perhaps those same planners will find the land is not suitable for a city hall. Then the discussion ends. But if they find that a city hall would fit just perfectly on the site and the city could save money putting it there, isn’t that the best thing for the city and its taxpayers?

That’s what we and Ficker have been saying all along.

But the council majority of Ed Selich, Keith Curry, Nancy Gardner and Michael Henn wouldn’t budge. They didn’t want to hear about any plans for a city hall, period. They said a park had already been promised on the site, and they needed to keep that promise.

The problem with that argument is that a city hall and a park can coexist on the property. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

So with rejection in hand from the council, Ficker tested the waters of public opinion and believes there is enough support out there for the city hall site.

He is looking to put a referendum on the ballot to see if the rest of the city agrees with him.

If we were taking bets, we’d wager that referendum passes easily.

Perhaps the council was seeing the same, because Selich, a previously staunch opponent of building city hall there, now gave the go-ahead to study the site, though his stated goal is to prove it’s not viable.

Maybe he’ll be right. But at least now we’ll have all the information before making the decision.

That’s all we wanted to see happen. That’s what Bill Ficker and the public deserve to see happen.