Newport Measure Y debate focuses on whose interests are served

About 200 people packed the Newport Beach Civic Center Community Room on Wednesday night to hear a debate about Measure Y, a proposal on the city’s November ballot that would update the Newport Beach general plan to allow more development potential in some parts of the city while decreasing it in others.

The measure’s proponents — represented at the forum by Planning Commissioner Larry Tucker and former Mayor Don Webb — say it’s necessary to ensure that Newport Beach is a vibrant community in the future.

Opponents say it’s a case of the city bowing to developer interests at the expense of residents. They contend traffic would be worsened in already-congested parts of the city.

Former Councilwoman Jean Watt and Stop Polluting Our Newport Treasurer Dennis Baker spoke against the measure.

The event, presented by community organization Speak Up Newport, drew one of the group’s biggest turnouts, said moderator and Speak Up Newport board member Debra Allen.

Measure Y would allow for increased development in Newport Center, already a dense commercial area owned largely by the Irvine Co., while the company would give up entitlement to build more hotel rooms in Newport Coast.

Tucker said the measure is about deciding where a finite amount of already-entitled development should be built.

“As a mostly built-out city, it would be moving development from the edge of town into the center of town,” Tucker said.

The shops and restaurants of Fashion Island would benefit from a boost in customers, he said, and allowing for more development in the city’s heart would make Newport a more attractive option for younger prospective residents, particularly those who want to live in a walkable neighborhood.

Webb, sporting a sign that read “Traffic mixologist,” illustrated what he said was the measure’s traffic mitigation capacity by pouring small cups of blue-colored water into a large jug filled most of the way with yellow water.

The result: green for “go.”

He said the city’s traffic circulation plans allow for small or moderate increases in certain areas while decreasing the overall trips in town.

Many in the audience grumbled at that claim, though the debate’s tone was civil throughout, with both sides recognizing that the other has the city’s best interests at heart.

Watt said that, ultimately, the measure would benefit only the Irvine Co.

“This is one more classic battle between big developer interests and residents under the banner of traffic mitigation and strengthening neighborhoods,” she said. “The only reason this is on the ballot is because of the [ongoing] Newport Center expansion.”

She said many of the provisions touted by the measure’s supporters could be achieved at the City Council level, without voters’ permission, while less-savory ones are obscured.

Baker said the Irvine Co. doesn’t intend to build the hotel rooms to which it would give up entitlement under the measure. He added that a popular bypass to help with anticipated increases in traffic around Corona del Mar that could come with Measure Y’s passage is an idea, not a requirement.

Baker also cited a 2000 letter to the Daily Pilot in which an Irvine Co. executive said the company “will not build any more high-rise office buildings in Newport Beach” — a promise Baker said the company has broken.

“You are being lied to,” he said.

After about an hour of debate, the crowd dispersed into the breezeway surrounding the building, continuing the discussion.