city council district 6 v corona del mar & newport coast
Nancy Gardner
councilwoman v newport beach, california
FEBRUARY UPDATE
NORTH NEWPORT CENTER DEVELOPMENT
AGREEMENT
While most people seem to feel the
City will benefit from the development agreement which will pay for a new city
hall, a good portion of the new Oasis Senior Center, and traffic improvements,
there are some who raised objections which seemed to focus on three areas:
LACK OF AN EIR:
An EIR wasn’t required because we had just done an extensive EIR for the General
Plan, and there had been no significant changes in the interim period.
LACK OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
A joint meeting of the Council and Planning Commission on October 30, a second
meeting of the Planning Commission on November 15, two additional council
meetings on December 6 and December 18 – that’s a month and a half and four
meetings for people to get involved. Also, most of what was in the Development
Agreement was in the General Plan which had five years of discussion.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY IN
NEGOTIATIONS: It’s true that two members of the Council went out and
negotiated with The Irvine Company and came back with the general terms, but
these were then discussed in public meetings. Because of the Brown act, the
alternative is to have all seven of us negotiating from the dais, and I can’t
believe anyone would want that.
GROUP HOMES
ORDINANCE
As predicted, the Council passed a group homes ordinance
to address an overconcentration of such entities in the city. The goal has been
to craft an ordinance which would alleviate the impacts of this concentration
but was not discriminatory.
KEY ELEMENTS:
-
All new group homes (with the exception of 6 and under licensed which are allowed by state law to be located in any residential area) are limited to MFR zones. They must get a Use Permit to operate.
-
Existing group homes in non-MFR zones are now nonconforming, and they must apply for a Use Permit or reasonable accommodation within 90 days to remain open. Reasonable accommodation is a term from federal statutes and case law that requires cities to provide disabled persons with a process to seek special exceptions from local zoning to provide equal opportunity for housing. Among the elements to be considered in granting or refusing the application: sufficiency of on-site parking, compatibility with the character of the neighborhood, transportation and delivery plans and, in the case of reasonable accommodation, whether individuals with a disability will be denied an equal opportunity to enjoy the housing type of their choice without this particular house.
The ordinance hadn’t
even been printed when the Concerned Citizens group filed its lawsuit, naming
the City as one of the defendants. It would have been nice if they had given the
ordinance a modicum of time to judge its effectiveness, but those are the
vagaries of litigation.
BANNING RANCH
This is one of the priorities for the Council this year. As you will recall,
the General Plan has two options for the area with Plan A being to purchase the
entire area for open space. If we can’t find the funds, Plan B is for at least
half the property to remain open space with the other half for development with
a maximum of 1,350 residential units, 75,000 square feet of commercial space,
and a boutique hotel of 75 rooms. The public’s position during the General Plan
process was interesting. When we presented Plan A –– finding funding and keeping
it all open space – most people thought it was a terrific idea, but when we
talked about Plan B – the city getting only half the open space but getting it
for free and having the developer clean up the area, a great many of them jumped
on that. Once we get an appraisal and have a better idea of the dollars we’re
talking about, it will be interesting to see how residents evaluate the two
options.
PORT
THEATER
For those who have lamented the passing of yet another landmark, take heart. The
latest news is that a decision has been made to keep the Port as a theater.
Plans have been submitted that indicate a significant reduction in overall
seating with rows of couches, chairs and tables in the lower level, chairs and
tables in the mezzanine and a remodeled lobby.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
> CdM Parking
> Palm Trees
> Other
Concerns
FUTURE TOPIC SUGGESTIONS
This is a two-way process, so please don’t hesitate to contact me with your ideas and opinions.
Councilwoman Nancy Gardner
QUALITY OF LIFE Advocate FOR NEWPORT BEACH
City of Newport Beach - 3300 Newport Blvd - Newport Beach, CA 92663
Phone: 949.644.3004 - EMAIL: gardnerncy@aol.com
Copyright 2008 v Nancy Gardner v All Rights Reserved