POL POSITION:Building City Hall on OCTA site could cost $10 million

I read with dismay the article written by my fellow City Councilman, Keith Curry, in the Forum column (“Unite and move forward now on city hall,” July 30) with regard to the question of where to locate Newport Beach’s new City Hall.

To say the editorial is replete with distortions, misrepresentations and unsupportable facts is being generous. In his article, Curry attempts to vilify Bill Ficker and the City Hall in the Park Committee for not towing the party line.

It is my belief the City Hall in the Park supporters are only trying to stop a slim City Council majority from trying to cram down an inadequate and overly costly solution to the city hall issue.

The truth is that there are two competing proposals in play. The first proposal, which is supported by Councilman Curry and three other members of the City Council, is to cut a deal with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to acquire their bus terminal in Newport Center as a location for City Hall.

This would involve demolition of the existing bus terminal and its reconstruction on an adjacent parcel of land owned by the Irvine Company, which the city would have to acquire at fair market value. Whether the OCTA would even agree to such a proposal is highly speculative.

The second proposal, which is supported by myself and Councilman Webb and Councilwoman Daigle, is to take a small portion of the land next to the city’s Main Library, which the city already owns, and construct the new City Hall there with the remaining 9-10 acres to be developed into a park.

This proposal is supported by the City Hall in the Park Committee, which is currently circulating a petition to qualify an initiative for the Feb. 5, 2008, election.

The city contracted with DMJM, a well-respected architectural and engineering firm hand-picked by Councilman Curry and other council supporters of the OCTA site to study the two proposals. The task was to prepare a site analysis and a site development cost estimate for the two proposals using a worst-case scenario.

The DMJM study confirmed what I think we already knew: a City Hall could be constructed on either parcel.

However, the startling conclusion of the DMJM consultants was that it would cost $10 million more to construct the new City Hall on the OCTA site as opposed to the site next to the Main Library. This figure does not take into account the cost to acquire the Irvine Company parcel or the amount we would have to pay to acquire the rights, owned by adjoining landowners, to Avocado Street which would have to be partially abandoned under the OCTA plan.

In his article, Curry ignored the extra $10 million construction cost, as did the council majority when they voted to move forward with the OCTA site.

The proposal I support for our new City Hall is to locate it next to the Main Library and integrate it into a 9- to 10-acre world-class park. Doing so takes advantage of the synergy recognized by the DMJM consultants in placing civic buildings in close proximity to one another. The added benefit is that it doesn’t require the wasted expenditure of an additional $10 million on an Irvine Company leftover that is fit for a bus terminal but not for the most important civic building in our city.

Councilman Curry’s conclusions that the OCTA site is better configured for an administration building, has better traffic characteristics, allows for a more functional building, has better parking, could be underway in a matter of months, and has better drainage were all either directly contradicted by the DMJM consultants or have no basis. His conclusions would require the knowledge of a geologist, civil engineer, traffic engineer and an architect.

I do not believe he possesses any of these qualifications. What Curry is qualified to opine on, based upon his government finance background, is how much extra it is going to cost us to finance the additional $10 million cost to build City Hall at the OCTA site.

As I pointed out at our council meeting on July 24, do you think that the Irvine Company offered up their best piece of land in Newport Center when the OCTA came to them for a site on which to locate their bus terminal or did they give OCTA the least desirable, most out of the way remnant of land that they had? You be the judge.

is the mayor of Newport Beach.