Few Ready to Pay the Price of Open Space : Survey: Newport residents wouldn’t support city purchase of Irvine Co. tracts, council is told.

Results of a poll show that most residents in Newport Beach want to preserve open space and slow down development in the city, but very few want to pay higher city taxes to purchase land for those purposes.

The survey, taken by Nelson Communications, gave sharp and unequivocal results concluding that residents are not interested in saving land through higher taxes, and such a measure would probably fail if put to a citywide vote.

The City Council commissioned the opinion survey to determine whether there should be a measure on the June ballot asking residents to vote on a $90-million bond issue to buy two properties for open space.

Support from about two-thirds of the residents surveyed would have indicated a good chance for passage of such a ballot measure, said Paul P. Freeman, a spokesman for the survey firm, during a City Council study session this week.

Of those polled, 40% said keeping the property as open space was a “good idea,” but just 8% said there was a “high” chance that Newport Beach voters would approve the bond issue to do so, while 60% said there was a “low” chance.

“No matter how you slice it, it’s very discouraging,” Freeman said.

“It would be extremely unlikely, based on these survey results, that you could get two-thirds of the population to support a tax hike to purchase these properties,” he said. “It is a very underwhelming response no matter how you ask the question.”

At issue are two properties the Irvine Co. owns and wants to develop as housing tracts. The undeveloped property is valued at $90 million and would cost each homeowner $195 annually for 20 years to buy.

One parcel is the Upper Castaways, a 57-acre plot above Newport Bay near Dover Drive, where the company hopes to build 151 homes on 26 acres.

The other plot, totaling 77 acres, is called Newporter North, where the company would build 212 homes on 30 acres.

If the company eventually does build on the properties, it would also donate about 80 acres of undeveloped land from the parcels to the city for park open space and park development.

A few hundred residents who had voted in one or more of the past four city elections were surveyed for two days two weeks ago.

In general, people interviewed supported buying the property because they believe there is too much development and that the price is small compared to the permanent addition of open space.

However, respondents said they felt $90 million is too large a debt burden for the city and that the company already plans to donate to the city a substantial amount of land.

The survey also asked if residents would consider buying one or the other properties. The Upper Castaways would cost each household $89 annually, and Newporter North would cost each residence $106 annually.

When questioned on just the Upper Castaways lot, 47% supported the tax and 47% opposed, with the remainder having no opinion. For the Newporter North parcel, 41% supported the tax, 52% opposed it, and 7% had no opinion.

The council will decide in coming weeks whether to put the bond issue on the June ballot.