From a distance, Newport Beach's new City Council Chambers off Avocado Avenue glowed like a cruise ship, its metal hull rising over a sea of dark construction barriers.
Getting closer Tuesday night, tall walls of windows revealed a crowd gathering to celebrate the City Council's first meeting there, capping off nearly a decade of fierce debate — though officials have emphasized that the completed Civic Center won't officially be unveiled until next year.
An open house is scheduled for May 4.
Inside the chambers, the soaring terraced ceilings, angular-yet-ergonomic furnishings and high-tech accouterments made the 150-seat hall feel like a space-age cathedral.
But critics have said the gods of local government are unworthy of that kind of tribute, dubbing the $131.4-million project Newport's "Taj Mahal."
At a special meeting earlier that day, a few hundred residents crowded into the city's old Council Chambers on Newport Boulevard for the last time to tackle one final piece of major business for 2012: a contentious residential dock fee increase, which the council ultimately approved.