Newport to Grow How Now?

The Newport Beach City Council will meet today to discuss how to implement a popular slow-growth measure without thwarting the voters’ will or setting itself up for a lawsuit.

The Greenlight Initiative was approved by nearly two-thirds of voters in November. Under the measure, proposed developments that exceed the city’s general plan by 100 residential units, 40,000 square feet or 100 peak-hour car trips trigger a citywide vote. Smaller projects in highly developed areas of the city--defined by a complex equation--could also trigger a vote.

That complex equation weighs projects against general plan amendments “within the preceding 10 years,” mostly to prevent developers from submitting several small proposals to avoid the square-footage limit that would apply were they all one project.

Interpreting this provision is likely to be the most controversial task of the bunch.

The City Council must decide when such a 10-year period begins--whether a project submitted today would be weighed against the 10 years previous to it or whether the 10 years must be established anew, starting on a date tied to the ballot measure itself. Thus there are three interpretations: 1991, a true 10 years ago; Dec. 15, the date the measure went into effect, or July 30, 1999, the date the notice of intent to circulate the measure was published.

Some people, including City Councilman Tod Ridgeway, say that a strict reading of the initiative means that a small project submitted today would require a look back at general plan amendments starting in January 1991.

“We can’t be revisionists in our interpretation,” he said. “Unless I hear substantial evidence to the contrary, I think we’re stuck with going back 10 years.”

Greenlight proponents say they never intended the equation to be retroactive, taking into account projects that were approved before Greenlight was in place.

“The 10-year period would create an unfair burden, on both voters for having to vote on many small projects, and the business community, which is certainly not our intent,” said Phil Arst, a Greenlight leader.

He said they intended any “look back” to be allowed to go back only as far as the inception of Greenlight, which they say is July 30, 1999.

A third view comes from the city attorney’s office, which says the 10-year look-back period should start Dec. 15, 2000--the day the Greenlight measure took effect.

City Atty. Bob Burnham wrote in a staff report that the Dec. 15 date makes sense for three reasons: because the “look-back provision” was intended to ensure that developers didn’t piecemeal projects by submitting several under the 40,000-square-foot threshold; because laws typically are not retroactively applied; and because “it reduces the potential for a successful legal challenge.”

But Tom Edwards, a former Newport Beach mayor who led the anti-Greenlight campaign, says the July 30, 1999, and Dec. 15 options leave the city open to a “discriminatory enforcement” lawsuit, because developers would be treated differently depending on when they propose their projects.

Whatever is decided, the council will eventually have to vote on the guidelines. No date has been set.

* The City Council will discuss provisions of the Greenlight initiative at 4:30 p.m. today at City Hall.