COMMUNITY COMMENTARY

Richard Luehrs

Recently, the Newport Beach City Council agreed to place a controversial

initiative on the November ballot. Supporters of this initiative, which

could have deep-reaching implications, have titled it the “Greenlight

Initiative.” This initiative would require a citywide vote on all

developments that would seek a “major” general plan amendment. The

“major” is defined as creating more than 100 peak-hour car trips, more

than 100 homes or more than 40,000 square feet of floor area over what

the city’s general plan allows.

Although this initiative seems to be pretty straightforward, numerous

articles have appeared over the past few weeks that have raised many

confusing questions to the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce as

well as the community as a whole.

The chamber and volunteer committees are concerned about conflicting

reports or lack of definitions from the proponents of the initiative. The

following is a list of questions that deserve further analysis and

discussion.

Question 1 -- Would important and needed establishments such as churches,

synagogues or schools fall under the initiative?

Question 2 -- Would the Greenlight Initiative revert Newport Beach’s

newly renovated Traffic Phasing Ordinance? This new version of the

Traffic Phasing Ordinance (the toughest of its kind in Orange County) has

brought the city out of inevitable lawsuits which put the city in a

severely vulnerable state as recently as a year ago.

Question 3 -- Where will the funding come from to hold the numerous

special elections for developments throughout the city that the

initiative would trigger? Let us remember that research has shown (not

retroactively) a simple Starbucks on a street corner would require a vote

of the people.

Question 4 -- How many special elections would actually take place? It is

no secret that overall voter turnout is very low for city, state and

federal elections, so who would turn out to decide if a new Starbucks was

to be built?

Question 5 -- Does the initiative ensure that new development is still

studied for its environmental impacts, or will all new projects simply go

to the ballot without this sort of review?

Question 6 -- Does the initiative include all developments in the

“preceding 10 years?” Some of the supporters have said that it is

retroactive while others have seemed to be unclear when the Greenlight

implications take effect. The interpretation of this initiative still

seems to be in question by the people who wrote it.

Question 7 -- How will the Greenlight Initiative amend the city’s general

plan on various requirements not related to traffic? For example, will

current requirements for schools and services now required by the general

plan be changed to accommodate the initiative?

Question 8 -- Is this a citywide measure, or is it segmented into 49

individual “zones” of the city? The supporters themselves have said that

analyzing all 49 “zones” of the city (both presently and retroactively)

is a tremendously confusing and an almost impossible task.

Question 9 -- If the city is to be broken down into 49 individual zones,

what sort of city administrative cost will the initiative create to track

all of these zones?

Question 10 -- Who will pay for all of the research that will need to be

conducted to determine if a special election is needed? Supporters have

said the city may pay for this extensive research, however, not more than

three months ago the city manager’s office reported that if Newport Beach

stayed on its current economic course, debt would engulf the city in five

years.

Question 11 -- Will the Greenlight Initiative really stop any traffic

problems in the city? Reports have shown that the majority of traffic

comes from commuters and beachgoers passing through Newport Beach.

Initiative supporters have not shown how this initiative stops traffic in

the city itself.

Question 12 -- Is this initiative intended to replace the current review

of new developments that occurs by the city’s trained and qualified

staff, the Planning Commission and the City Council?

The Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce will continue to analyze and

communicate information imperative to the Newport Beach voters to make

responsible decisions for their city. The chamber will also continue to

invest its resources into determining the answers and to ensure sound

governmental decisions are made on behalf of the entire community.

RICHARD LUERHS is president and CEO if the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of

Commerce.