General Plan

The Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to amend its general plan for the Orange County Fairgrounds to further describe and clarify the land use the city will allow for the 150-acre property. Councilman Eric Bever was absent. The city’s next step is to place the amendment on the June ballot in an effort to lock in the land use as a fair and exposition center and place its future in the hands of the voters. The amendment clarifies the types of activities that can take place on the fairgrounds and expands the description of the land use, including providing a guideline on what can and cannot be done on the property.

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?

About 30 political signs posted Wednesday at Corona del Mar businesses along East Coast Highway by the group Friends of Begonia Park are missing. The group, which has fought against one man’s plans to build a home on a lot adjacent to the park because they claim it will block a scenic view of Newport Harbor, has reported the missing signs to police. “I feel a level of consternation and I want to make what happened public, because I don’t think it’s right,” Friends of Begonia Park member Kenneth Jaggers said Thursday.

The Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct staff to make the general plan for the Orange County Fairgrounds’ land use more specific. The amendment will go to the Planning Commission, and then the council for approval, before the council votes to place it on the June ballot. Amending the general plan’s designation for the fairgrounds will provide more details about how the property can be used, which will include expanding the definition of the fairgrounds and asserting the city’s authority over the land use when the state sells the property, said Kimberly Brandt, Costa Mesa’s acting development services director.

A proposed project near Begonia Park in Corona del Mar has some residents taking a stand against the plans, which would block some of the view of the bay from the park. The Newport Beach Planning Commission recently gave its seal of approval to the project, which was originally proposed in April. Initially, the Planning Commission denied the project because it did not conform to building code standards. The project was redesigned and reduced in size before the Planning Commission gave its approval recently, though the City Council still has to sign off on the project before construction can start.

The fate of Banning Ranch, an undeveloped 400-acre coastal area, is now in the hands of Newport Beach. Newport Banning Ranch LLC, the owner of the land, has submitted to the city a plan to develop 1,375 homes, a hotel and retail stores on the bluffs overlooking the Balboa Peninsula. “If it were approved, it would codify everything we’ve warned we would do on the project,” said Mike Mohler, the project manager. Meanwhile, residents opposing the development are ramping up their efforts to get the land designated a nature preserve, where they say locals could hike and bike through the coastal sage while enjoying views of the ocean.

Newport Beach could consider an ordinance as early as this summer to boost the number of affordable homes available in the city, but critics say Newport will have to do more to address its housing needs. “Our biggest concern is that the city is being non-responsive to state law,” said Scott Darrell, executive director of the Kennedy Commission on Affordable Housing, a watchdog group that monitors how Orange County cities are addressing housing needs. Newport Beach is out of compliance with state laws that require cities to address regional housing needs in their general plan, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

State Sen. Tom Harman has introduced a bill to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the passage of Proposition 13, which capped property tax rates in the state. The ballot measure reduced property taxes by an average of 57% in California. “Proposition 13 was the catalyst for the economic success California has enjoyed over the past 30 years,” Harman said in a written statement. “By keeping taxes low in our state, we will continue to encourage new jobs and growth to relocate to California.

An environmental group suing Newport Beach and the City Council over a multimillion dollar development agreement with the Irvine Co. claims the city has not done enough research on how the plan will affect traffic and the environment. “I hope to achieve making water quality a priority for the City Council and developers,” said activist Bob Caustin, founder of Defend the Bay. The group filed a petition in Orange County Superior Court last week to challenge the legality of an agreement that creates a new planned community that merges two blocks of Newport Center, Fashion Island and San Joaquin Plaza to form North Newport Center Planned Community.