Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : CITIES : Slow-Growth Groups Propose More Reforms

There are people in Newport Beach who like Newport Beach just fine the way it is, thank you. In fact, they have enough support that they managed to beat the Irvine Co. in November in a citywide vote on a plan to expand Newport Center.

Now, the slow-growth groups have taken the next logical step. Wednesday, they sent the City Council their proposals for reforms designed to strictly limit development of the beach community.

Their four-point program calls for an early vote on a city traffic plan, limits on high-rise construction, strengthening of conflict-of-interest laws and consolidation of city elections.

“The outcome of the . . . election indicates that the residents realize that more office buildings are not needed in Newport Beach,” said Alan Beek, who helped spearhead the slow-growth movement.

But Newport Beach council members appeared cool to the proposals. Mayor John C. Cox Jr. called them “political rhetoric” and said the city already has laws to handle traffic and development.