NEWPORT BEACH : City Decides Against Election to Buy Land

Voters in Newport Beach will not cast ballots in June to decide whether city taxes should be increased to buy two parcels of land that are slated for development.

The City Council unanimously opposed putting the bond issue on the June ballot after a city committee recommended against the measure and a city-commissioned opinion poll said the issue was unlikely to win voters’ support.

“It doesn’t seem reasonable to put it on, in my view,” Councilman Clarence J. Turner said. “There was no way in God’s green earth the bond issue was going to pass in Newport Beach.”

The bond issue would have loaned the city $90 million to buy two pieces of property owned by the Irvine Co. that are slated to be the site of two new housing tracts in the city. The issue could still be placed before voters at the November General Election but will likely be postponed one year.

One parcel, the Upper Castaways, is about 56 acres, and the other, Newporter North, is about 77 acres.

The bond issue to buy the two parcels would have cost each household about $200 annually.

According to a city-commissioned survey on the issue, most residents in the city are interested in saving the property from development but few want to pay higher taxes to do so.

An overwhelming majority of the residents oppose new taxes for the land, according to Nelson Communications, which conducted the survey.

The Newport Conservancy, a local environmental group that is leading the acquisition drive, is looking into other ways to finance the purchase, perhaps through a combination of state and federal grant funds. The group is also raising funds for the properties.

Councilwoman Jean H. Watt, who is on the board of directors of the conservancy, said she would like to see the issue postponed for one year so the group has time to seek additional funds to buy the properties.

“We can’t do it by June. We need more time,” Watt said. “Our justification is that these are important properties.”