Newport Beach group inches closer to ballot measure on state-required housing

Former Newport Beach Mayor Marshall “Duffy” Duffield and fellow activists submitted nearly 9,000 signatures last week in support of giving the city’s residents greater control over housing development.

The Coalition for Responsible Housing, which is comprised of the Newport Beach Stewardship Assn. and Still Protecting Our Newport (SPON) members, is hoping to qualify a ballot measure for the June primary that supporters claim will return authority over the city’s state-approved housing plan from elected officials back to the voters.

Dubbed the “Responsible Housing Initiative” by advocates, the measure would seek to “balance responsible urban development with protecting the environment, public health and safety and the quality of life” for Newport Beach residents and businesses.

“We are definitely not NIMBYs,” Charles Klobe, SPON’s president said, using the acronym for “not in my backyard.”

“We support affordable housing,” Klobe continued. “We just feel that the city’s housing plan was a giveaway to developers masked as a state requirement.”

Newport Beach passed a housing element plan last year that cleared the way for up to 8,174 new housing units to be built through rezoning and development standards. That is nearly double the 4,845 units the state has allocated Newport Beach to plan for in order to meet the housing needs of all income levels.

There are currently more than 5,000 units in preliminary applications, most of which are apartments.

City officials have said that exceeding the planning requirement provides a buffer in the event that certain developments fall through.

Supporters of the ballot initiative effort argue that Newport Beach has planned for housing stock in excess. If qualified and passed by voters, the initiative would amend the current housing element plan to limit new housing to 2,900 units while counting units already in the pipeline. The city would then have to resubmit a plan for approval by the state’s Housing and Community Development agency.

“No part of our initiative is trying to sidestep the state mandate,” Klobe said. “We’re trying to meet exactly what they ask and not offer anymore.”

The ballot measure represents a change in tactics for SPON, which was previously one of two groups to file a lawsuit over the issue.

In June, Orange County Superior Court Judge Melissa McCormick ruled that Newport Beach did not violate its charter when the City Council approved a housing plan last year without putting it to voters through the city’s Greenlight Initiative, a law passed in 2000 that requires a citywide referendum on large housing developments.

“It was a completely political ruling that was not based in law,” Klobe argued. “The Newport Beach Stewardship Assn. has filed an appeal, but that’s going to take a long time. This ballot initiative is a quicker way to let the residents be heard.”

Klobe pointed to the recent example set by Yorba Linda, where voters passed Measure JJ — a local control, residential neighborhood and open space protection initiative — in approving the city’s housing element strategy.

During canvassing efforts in Newport Beach, Klobe encountered many residents who expressed anger about not being able to cast a similar vote, he said, something the coalition claimed propelled the 25 days it took to gather almost 9,000 signatures.

Proponents of the ballot measure need to meet a threshold of 6,092 valid signatures, which represents 10% of registered voters in Newport Beach, in order to qualify for the June primary ballot. The Orange County Registrar of Voters will review the submitted signatures to determine if they are valid.

Current Newport Beach Mayor Joe Stapleton expressed skepticism about the ballot initiative effort as signatures go through the verification process.

“I have real concerns about an initiative whose first sentence ‘mandates’ 2,160 extremely low, very low and low income units,” Stapleton said. “If the initiative meets the threshold, the matter will be scheduled for a discussion at a future public meeting, where the City Council will have an opportunity to review the proposed measure in greater detail.”

Klobe takes issue with Stapleton’s framing of the proposed initiative, which outlines the number of such units as part of its overall plan to meet state-housing goals, especially as he claimed only 7% of the total units in the application pipeline are affordable, with the moderate tier being the most scarce.

“The mayor is trying to frame it in a way that affordable housing is bad,” he said. “It needs to be explained because affordable housing is for police officers, firefighters and school teachers. Most residents think that their kids and people who work in the community should be able to live here.”

If enough signatures in support of the measure are verified, the City Council could decide to pass the initiative outright or put it on the ballot.