When the Newport Beach City Council meets Tuesday to talk about where to put city hall, Michael Henn may find that he's the decider.
The council will consider — for the third time — whether to build a city hall on a 12-acre site slated to become Newport Center Park.
Three council members say they want to consider the site as a city hall location. Three others are firmly against anything but the park. One is playing it close to the vest. That's Henn.
The city hall site has been a political football since 2005, with two earlier council votes taking the park site off the table. The council is still looking at an Orange County Transportation Authority park-and-ride site in Newport Center and the existing police station property, but most other possibilities have dried up.
The park site has quietly gained momentum as a city hall spot, and Mayor Steve Rosansky gave it a big push Tuesday in his speech at the annual mayor's dinner, saying the site can hold a park as well as a city hall.
Councilman Don Webb and Councilwoman Leslie Daigle were in Rosansky's camp Wednesday, although Daigle qualified her answer.
"I'm not saying city hall should be there — I'm saying we should take a look at it," she said.
Councilmen Keith Curry and Ed Selich and Councilwoman Nancy Gardner were staunchly supporting the original park plan, and they weren't swayed by the mayor's slide show of buildings with grass on their roofs.
"We've got other alternatives in Newport Center," Selich said. "Quite frankly, if those don't work out, probably other opportunities would pop up…. It makes no sense to take that park site as a city hall."
Henn didn't indicate Wednesday which way he's leaning. He wants to hear more about the status of the park-and-ride site, and he's carefully evaluating the council's prior commitments to the park and what new information has come to light, he said.
"I don't want to engage in a vote on the issue in the press before we have the meeting," he said.
If the council votes Tuesday to go ahead with the park, a referendum could be in the offing, though it's not clear who would spearhead it.
"Some people are saying that. I haven't organized anything," Rosansky said.
Webb also acknowledged the possibility of a city hall on the park site going to the ballot. "I think that I would probably support something like that if it were to come about," he said.
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