Commentary: Measure Y would prevent traffic spikes in our neighborhoods

By Tony PetrosMy name is Tony Petros. I am a Newport Beach city councilman, but my occupation is a transportation planner.

For the past 30 years, I have worked on mobility projects as close as Costa Mesa and as far away as the Middle East. Along the way, I have developed the credentials and the reputation as an expert in sustainable transportation planning.

I support Measure Y. I want you to know why I support Measure Y and why I believe it will benefit our community.

Measure Y is good for Newport Beach, now and in the future because:

• Measure Y includes new policies to encourage alternative transportation, including new policies directed at bicycle commuting and enhancing the transit center and shuttle services to reduce automobile travel.

• Measure Y reinforces the historical primacy of our residential neighborhoods. The text of the General Plan supports the residential nature of our community.

• Measure Y creates an entirely new chapter dedicated to sustainable practices. Chapter 4 of the General Plan includes goals, policies and programs to ensure future families share in the beauty of Newport Beach.

• Measure Y provides a new funding source for environmental projects. A portion of all new development fees will be directed to water quality, pollution control, energy savings and other environmental initiatives.

There are some very specific elements of Measure Y which deserve your attention.

• Measure Y removes real retail development potential from the Newport Coast shopping center and the area around Newport Heights. That is future traffic on neighborhood streets.

• Measure Y removes over 1,000 rooms of hotel development along the coast. These new rooms, which have already been approved by the county with no discretionary review by the city, would create more traffic along Coast Highway at all times of the day (think about tourist trips). Unless we vote Yes on Measure Y, those trips will further clog traffic at periods other than the morning and evening commutes in Corona del Mar and elsewhere in town.

• Measure Y concentrates new entitlements in Newport Center and in industrial areas near the airport. These areas are linked by high-quality transportation corridors, such as 14 to 16 total lanes along Jamboree Road and MacArthur Boulevard, and placing new buildings there will mean an overall reduction in new development potential citywide.

• Because Measure Y means less future development citywide, it also means less traffic coming from Newport Beach projects. Yes on Y means less future Newport Beach traffic.

Over the coming years, we will see regional growth in traffic. Ironically, No on Y does not mean No Traffic. It means we ignore the traffic impacts of regional growth until it creates gridlock in our neighborhoods.

For these reasons and more, I support Measure Y, and I voted to put it on the ballot.

I urge you to study the facts, all the facts, by visiting https://www.NBTrafficReduction.com

TONY PETROS is a Newport Beach city councilman.