General Plan

The Orange County Fairgrounds Board of Directors will meet today to discuss its position on the sale of the fairgrounds. The board members have faced a backlash from the community for lobbying the state to sell the 150-acre property, and residents have demanded that they state their position in public. Meanwhile, the Costa Mesa City Council is scheduled to vote on amending the component of the city?s general plan specific to the fairgrounds. The council recently directed staff to amend that piece of the plan to more broadly define how the fairgrounds?

The American Planning Assn. announced Tuesday it has awarded the city of Newport Beach the 2008 National Planning Excellence Award for a Hard-Won Victory. The city earned the recognition for its adoption in November 2006 of the first comprehensive revision of the city’s general plan in more than 30 years. The revised plan redirects the city’s automobile-oriented development pattern to a more compact approach that encourages walking and community interaction. These changes will reduce the number of daily automobile trips by 28,000, the city’s carbon emissions, traffic congestion, and vehicle commute times, according to the association.

Should Newport Beach remain a residential and beach community with a high quality of life or become a high-density, congested city like Santa Monica? The latest proposed update to the city's general plan calls for extensive developments and density increases that will turn us into another Santa Monica. The current plan will create more than 20 unsatisfactory intersections in the city. Your trips to the supermarket or to visit friends in the city will become increasingly inconvenient.

I would just like to point out, as a former member of the team that obtained the original approval for the Newport Coast local coastal program, that the Pelican Hill Inn is totally in keeping with the local coastal program. That means it is consistent with the general plan for that part of Newport Beach and the request [to build the resort] requires no general plan amendment. Thus, [the issue] the voters were concerned about -- wanting to vote on general plan amendments in order to assess traffic impacts -- is not triggered by this particular proposal.

As we've been going through our "visioning" process to get started on updating the general plan, I've been hearing comments from residents that make me concerned that people may not really understand what this project is all about. I hope I can provide some clarity on the general plan update in this letter. The first thing I'd like to tackle is the notion that Newport Beach is a "built-out" city. I happen to think that's true -- but it doesn't lessen the importance of the general plan update.

Costa Mesa Deputy CEO and Economic Development Director Peter Naghavi will take on additional job duties May 7 by adding development services director to his title. He will take on the additional role without extra pay, saving the city about $225,000 annually and allowing the position's interim director, Khanh Nguyen, to return to his role as a city building official, according to the city. Naghavi will oversee an update to Costa Mesa's general plan, lead ratcheted-up code enforcement of the city's drug and alcohol rehab homes, and prepare Costa Mesa for the loss of state redevelopment funds.

S.J. Cahn FASHION ISLAND -- Officials at Newport Beach's premier shopping center on Monday announced plans for new restaurants as part of almost 70,000 square feet of expansion to be finished by next spring. The construction, which will include 35,000 square feet of new buildings and the 33,000-square-foot addition of a third floor to Neiman Marcus, won't demand a Greenlight vote because it was approved in a 1994 agreement made before the slow-growth law took effect.

Mathis Winkler NEWPORT BEACH -- Residents interested in the city's future should mark Nov. 3 on their calendars. On that day, city officials will put on a so-called visioning festival, as members of the ad hoc general plan update committee decided Monday. The event will kick off a months-long process, during which residents will get a chance to say how they want the city to look in decades to come. Following this get-together, smaller neighborhood workshops are planned to give folks time to refine their suggestions.

The Greenlight committee, a residents group that successfully passed a landmark growth control measure in Newport Beach in 2000, wants voters to have an even bigger say in the city's future development. The group on Friday announced it will circulate petitions for a new ballot initiative it has dubbed Greenlight II. The measure would apply the first Greenlight initiative's voter controls over development to the city's existing general plan. That means if the initiative passes, a public vote would be required on any proposal that exceeds existing development in Newport Beach by more than 100 dwelling units, 100 peak hour car trips or 40,000 square feet of building space.

Deirdre Newman The torrent of discontent stirred up by the 1901 Newport Blvd. project has led some residents to call for an update of city planning. The city's general plan document is a framework of the city's long-term goals for the next 20 years. The last update of the plan was adopted in 2002, said Development Services Director Don Lamm. The 1901 Newport Blvd. project had a contentious run through City Hall. After initial approval, resident opposition to its high density led the council to reconsider its decision.