Developer backed Newport housing ballot measure effort with $150K contribution
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A real estate developer was the sole funder behind the effort to qualify a measure for the November ballot to reject and revise a state-required housing plan approved by Newport Beach City Council two years ago.
Campaign disclosure forms for the Coalition for Responsible Housing show Ken Picerne, chief executive of Newport Beach’s Picerne Group, contributed $150,000 on Sept. 3, 2025, as canvassers readied to collect signatures in support of the ballot measure.
More than $115,000 of Picerne’s contribution went to pay a canvassing company based in Las Vegas to help circulate petitions.
After a ballot initiative challenging the city’s housing plan qualified, Newport Beach City Council scheduled the measure to go before voters during the November 2026 general election.
Proponents of the ballot initiative, which would significantly curb the number of housing units planned for under the state’s mandate, touted the canvassing effort last year as one that collected more than 9,000 signatures in just 25 days.
“We couldn’t marshal volunteers quick enough,” said Charles Klobe, spokesperson for Still Protecting Our Newport. “We were thinking it was going to be on a much earlier ballot, and we had to get it done quicker. Frankly, we were surprised by how quickly we got the signatures.”
Coalition members had hoped the ballot measure would have been scheduled during the June primary election, instead of November.
The housing element plan passed by Newport Beach in 2024 made accommodations for as many as 8,174 units to be built by 2029.
If voters approve the ballot measure, planning will be limited to 2,900 units, including units already in the pipeline.
Councilmember Noah Blom questioned Picerne’s role in backing the ballot petition, which he said he learned of from talking to paid canvassers, before voting to schedule the measure during the general election in November.
“How many units are up in the airport district right now under construction for Picerne?” Blom said. “He decides no one else gets to build until he’s done.”
Councilmembers backed a development agreement for the Irvine Co., which seeks to build hundreds of market-rate apartments by John Wayne Airport. Critics aired concerns about the lack of affordable housing on the project site.
Blom described Picerne as “one of the biggest developers” in Newport Beach.
The Picerne Group’s portfolio includes One Uptown Newport, a luxurious 455-unit apartment community near John Wayne Airport.
In 2024, the City Council approved plans for the Picerne Group to build a 229-apartment complex, with 23 affordable units, that a pedestrian bridge will conjoin with the developer’s other 312-unit project, which includes 13 affordable units, near the airport.
Last November, the council also approved an Irvine Co. plan to build 700 units in the area, at MacArthur Court. Seven percent of its affordable units may be built off-site, in accordance with city policy.
“On the surface, it looks like Picerne’s support of reducing the amount of units in Newport Beach is self-serving,” Blom said. “However, the residents have told us that they are aligned with the idea of less market-rate units overall in Newport Beach than what the City Council agreed to in the housing element.”
