EDITORIAL:

The voters have spoken.

It’s time to move forward.

Newport Beach has been mired in controversy over a new location for its city hall for longer than we care to remember, but on Tuesday residents gave a thumbs up to Measure B, which calls for a new city hall on Avocado Avenue next to the central library.

At 52.8%, the yes vote did not turn out to be an overwhelming mandate, but it was a statement.

It’s important that the voice of the majority of voters be heard and heeded.

Many opponents of Measure B have accepted the results.

“As the saying goes, ‘the voters have spoken,’ so I think the council is going to move ahead and do what we have to do to get a city hall built on the site next to the library,” Mayor Ed Selich said.

If all goes according to plan, we could see a new city hall — not brand-label beer, but the good stuff, as Councilman Steve Rosansky puts it — by 2010.

That day can’t come too soon.

The existing city hall is an embarrassment. In some rooms, paperwork is stacked to the ceilings. Workers share desks. Trailers dot the property. Newport Beach deserves better.

But for the jewel city of Orange County to get what it deserves, opponents of Measure B will have to lay down their arms. That means, first and foremost, activist Allan Beek dropping his lawsuit challenging the legality of putting the city hall issue in voters’ hands.

That’s a tall order.

An Orange County District Court judge blocked a restraining order in December that would have prevented Measure B from appearing on the ballot, but Beek said Tuesday he intended to proceed with the lawsuit.

We’re hoping in the days following the election Beek has reconsidered.

And we’re rooting for a unified voice — from both sides of Measure B — denouncing the lawsuit, which is sure to prove costly and time-consuming.

Ask yourself: Is it worth it to be mired down in legal entanglements?

Imagine, if you will, that Measure B failed. What would the victors say?

The voters have spoken.

A true and wise statement, regardless of one’s political preferences.

It’s time to move forward.