Spoils of Greenlight’s victory still felt

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Anyone compiling a “who’s who” list of Greenlight

supporters would have had a field day at Phil Arst’s home Wednesday

morning.

Munching on leftover vanilla cookies Arst’s wife, Margareth, had baked

for the holidays, a dozen Newport Beach campaigners for the slow-growth

initiative met for the first time after their November election victory.

The meeting gave group members -- such as former council members Jean

Watt and Evelyn Hart and community activists Claudia Owen, Susan and Jim

Dow, Tom Hyans and Mark Davidson -- an opportunity to compliment each

other on their achievements.

But Greenlight’s leaders also began talking about a future role they

might play in ensuring the initiative’s proper implementation.

Greenlight, approved by 63.4% of voters, will require citywide

elections on any general plan amendment for a project that adds more than

100 peak-hour car trips or dwelling units, or 40,000 square feet more

than the plan allows.

“We all went and took some vacation,” said Arst, who served as the

group’s spokesman during the campaign. “But now we’re back again, and

we’re not going away.”

Sitting in Arst’s Broadmoor Hills living room, which commands an

impressive view of Newport Beach’s harbor, as well as San Clemente and

Santa Catalina Islands and Palos Verdes, activists agreed their work was

far from finished.

“Our goal should be to keep educating” residents, said Nancy Skinner,

whose campaign duties included writing brochures, as well as getting

Greenlight author and treasurer Allan Beek to the city clerk’s office to

hand in financial disclosure statements on time.

Regular updates on the group’s Web site will be one way to accomplish

the goal, Arst said.

Supporting homeowner associations in dealing with development projects

that trigger Greenlight elections could represent another path to stay

active, Arst said.

“We expect homeowners associations to make comments if [projects come]

to a vote,” he said. “We’ll support neighborhood campaigns like that.”

But a discussion and adoption of guidelines for Greenlight by City

Council members this month will represent the next big thing on the

Greenlight agenda.

Setting a start date for the initiative’s “look-back period” will be

one of the main topics for council member’s discussions. Choosing 1990

would mean any general plan amendment during the past 10 years would

count toward the threshold that triggers an election. A 2000 starting

date could help avoid unnecessary visits to the polls, and Greenlight

supporters have said they’d prefer this option.

Skinner said she’d been happy to see Mayor Gary Adams express support

for the initiative during his Dec. 12 inaugural address.

“My opposition to [Greenlight] . . . had to do only with its method

not its premise,” Adams had said. “Now that Greenlight is law, I respect

it and support it.”

Beek added that he had “guarded optimism” about Greenlight’s proper

application.

Others in the group said the initiative’s well-financed opponents, who

contributed more than $400,000 to defeat Greenlight, could try to soften

or challenge Greenlight’s power.

“The City Council will hopefully not be under the influence” of

Greenlight’s opponents, said Mel Mann, who served as a financial advisor

to the campaign. “We need to deal with the City Council at arm’s length.

We need to be rather wary of what might happen.”

But volunteer coordinator Elaine Linhoff -- described by fellow

Greenlighters as the campaign’s “real powerhouse” -- said even a legal

challenge to the initiative would leave the group enough time to organize

a referendum on controversial projects.

“We feel that we could do it and do it easily at the moment,” she

said, adding that a force of more than 200 volunteers had rallied behind

Greenlight during the campaign.

FYI

Newport Beach City Council members will discuss Greenlight Initiative

guidelines during a study session Tuesday. The meeting will begin at 4

p.m. at City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd. Council members are expected to

vote on guidelines later this month. To view the Greenlight organization

Web site, visit https://www.newportgreenlight.com.