NEWPORT BEACH : Council to Consider Altering Budget

The City Council will consider two proposed budget amendments at its meeting today, which is the deadline for altering the 1991-92 city budget.

One amendment allocates $25,000 for a study of property the city may consider buying from the Irvine Co. to preserve as open space.

The two parcels of land, called the Castaways and Newporter North, are among the company’s 11 remaining holdings in the city. The properties are slated for housing and commercial projects. The city is assessing the properties, which the Irvine Co. has valued at about $125 million, and is considering a ballot measure asking voters whether they would pay for the land to keep it as open space.

The council will also consider spending $30,000 for a flagpole and monument in Peninsula Park, at the foot of the Balboa Pier, to commemorate the upcoming bicentennial of the Bill of Rights.

The Bicentennial Committee expects to repay the city $15,000 of that through donations from local businesses and restaurants.

Plans call for a 20-by-30-foot flag to top an 80-foot-tall pole, which would be based in a granite monument with 10 plaques stating each of the 10 first amendments to the U.S. Constitution.