Foes Petition for City Vote on Newport Growth Plan

Newport Beach slow-growth activists delivered referendum petitions bearing more than 6,000 signatures to the city clerk’s office Wednesday afternoon, convinced that they have forced a special election on the Irvine Co.’s $300-million expansion plans for Newport Center.

Later Wednesday afternoon, a group called Stop Polluting Our Newport filed suit in Orange County Superior Court, challenging the council’s approval of the expansion plans. Claiming that the council action was illegal on a number of grounds, the lawsuit seeks court orders blocking the plan.

SPON claimed that the expansion plan is at odds with the city’s general plan because it would generate too much traffic. The lawsuit also alleges that the council failed to consider “significant adverse environmental effects,” including air quality, noise, water quality and loss of open space.

In delivering its petitions to the city clerk, the activist group known as Gridlock hoped Wednesday to have all 6,000 signatures declared valid, which would mean that the group has gathered well above the 4,543 names needed to bring the plan to a citywide vote.

Organizer Alan Beek said the group will now focus on the November City Council elections to bring no-growth candidates like himself into office.

For supporters of the Irvine Co., the apparent success of the petition drive signals the start of another effort to bring the plan to reality. Citizens for a Better Newport will meet next Monday morning to discuss strategies--which are expected to include a direct-mail campaign to solicit funds--to counter Gridlock’s referendum.

“We want to see Newport not have development stopped cold in its tracks,” Vin Jorgenson, Citizens for a Better Newport steering committee member, said Wednesday.

The contested expansion plan, which calls for construction of hundreds of homes, office suites and retail stores on 518 acres surrounding Newport Center, was approved by the council by a 5-2 vote July 14.

Newport Beach City Clerk Wanda Andersen estimated Wednesday that Gridlock had exceeded the number of signatures need to qualify for the ballot, but 4,353 signatures of registered Newport Beach voters must still be verified by county officials. Andersen said she will deliver the petitions to the county registrar of voters this morning so that the validation, expected to take two to three weeks, can begin.

That process--in which signatures will be matched with current registration information--will cost the city about $3,600.

Once the official tally is complete, the council must formally acknowledge the referendum and decide either to repeal its approval of the Newport Center plan or call for a special election within 90 days. Last Thursday, the council rejected putting the issue on the city’s November general election ballot by a 6-1 vote.

The petition drive is a setback to Irvine Co. officials, who after years of negotiation and modification finally won council approval only last month.

“Of course we’re disappointed that there continue to be people in the city who . . . don’t see the merits of the plan,” said Irvine Co. Vice President Monica Florian.

The Irvine Co. has scaled down its original expansion plans three times.

“What was ultimately approved is not just the Irvine Co. plan,” Florian said. “Many of the things came out of the community and the needs people have identified for us.”

Florian said the referendum means that all expansion plans will be “held in abeyance.”

Gridlock’s Beek is a former member of the city’s Planning Commission who has been a longtime environmental advocate and slow-growth activist. He sued the city in 1982 over what he called the “backward” wording of a similar referendum, and for several years contested the demolition of the Balboa Fun Zone.

Beek’s family has owned and operated the Balboa Island ferry for several generations.

Newport Beach Mayor Philip R. Maurer said Wednesday that the 6,000 signatures gathered “doesn’t necessarily mean they have it. We’re going to check every signature.”

Even if the group does produce enough qualified signatures, Maurer says he is confident the plan will succeed.

Maurer said he felt certain that the council would not rescind its approval of the expansion proposal but would opt to put the plan on a special ballot.

“The plan has something for everybody,” Maurer said. “The important thing is to get them out to vote.”

Special elections usually draw only a fraction of eligible voters to the polls.

Times staff writer John Spano contributed to this story.