Q & A -- A countdown to Greenlight

With Newport Beach less than three months away from its first

Greenlight vote, many are curious as to the election’s outcome. Among

those are Koll Center officials who hope the city’s voters approve of a

250,000-square-foot expansion that includes a 10-story office tower.

The Koll Center is not a new topic in the city. When the original

project first surfaced in 1972, Greenlight initiative author Allan Beek

opposed it, just as he opposes its expansion now.

Daily Pilot Assistant City Editor James Meier caught up with Tim

Strader, Sr., one of five Koll Center partners, to discuss the project,

its benefits to the city and its opposition.

You’re now less than three months away from being a part of Newport

Beach’s first Greenlight vote. Are you ready?

We’re in the process of getting ready. What we plan to do is to give

the information to the public so they can make an informed decision. Now,

this particular project is what we consider Greenlight-friendly, and I’ll

explain that. The reason we say that is because the project itself will

generate $3 million in fees for traffic improvements in the city.

And something that also needs to be pointed out is that it’s on the

easterly boundary of the city in the Irvine Business Complex some five

miles away from the residential areas of the city, so it’s surrounded by

two freeways and the city of Irvine.

It’s an appropriate location for this kind of a use. The general plan

provides for office use in this area. There are only two places in the

city that do so. It’s there and also in Fashion Island. So this is the

appropriate place for this kind of a use.

Also, in the planning process, there must be a place for businesses to

locate within the city and there must be a place where there can be jobs

made available to the residents and this is the right place.

Another point I’d like to make is the project does generate positive

tax revenue to the city. It will generate $28,400 to the city annually.

I also want to try to explain something that I think is misunderstood.

That is, the environment impact report for the project indicates that in

the year 2020, traffic at the intersection of Jamboree Road and MacArthur

Boulevard -- when it’s fully built out -- will generate during the peak

hours 30 cars [hourly]. That means one every two minutes or one every

traffic cycle. Now I don’t believe that’s significant.

Now, there are words of art in the environmental process that utilize

the word “significant,” but I think you have to look at the facts behind

that. The question then is: Why is it deemed significant in the EIR? The

reason is because the city has not adopted a study in traffic

improvements necessary to resolve those issues. That’s why we’re giving

the city $2 million plus $114,000 to do the study and determine. We think

we are mitigating all the traffic problems that someone can contend

exist.

The election is Nov. 20. When will you launch the campaign to

educate the public about the expansion project?

We are in the process of putting together materials that will list the

points that we just discussed, that will be distributed by mail to the

voters. And through the press and interviews like this we hope to get

people to understand the process and the issues.

I think most people that I’ve talked to indicate that when they find

out where the project is, out by the [John Wayne] airport, that they’re

in favor of the project. They’ll be mailed out in the next couple of

months.

This is a different kind of election. This is an election in the

spirit of Greenlight to let the people become educated and cast their

vote.

Now I want to take issue with some of the previous Greenlight

supporters who have indicated that they are interested in projects that

benefit the city and they contend that this doesn’t benefit the city. I

challenge them to tell me how this project, generating $3 million in fees

and $28,000 a year in positive tax income, does not benefit the city.

When the Greenlight initiative passed, these people said let the

voters decide. Now, they don’t want the voters to decide. They want to

tell the voters what they should do. I think that’s contrary to the

spirit of Greenlight. And we’re in favor of letting the voters decide

once they’ve seen all the facts. That’s the difference between us and the

people who oppose this project. We don’t want to tell people what to do.

We want to educate them and let them make their own decision.

What points will you try to reinforce during the campaign?

We are in the process of putting together the argument in favor of the

proposition. Those we spoke of are essentially the points that will be

our argument.

Koll has to pay for the special election as well the campaign to

promote the project. How much will that cost?

We have estimated that the total costs will be about $250,000. That’s

broken down with the $90,000 out-of-pocket costs for processing the

election, and the rest will be spent for educating the voters and other

things.

Your opponents say long-term traffic has them worried. What do you

say to them?

My answer to that is the long-term traffic impacts are not significant

and the money we’re spending will be adequate to mitigate whatever

impacts occur.

Let me go a step further. This gives the city a chance to take a

leadership role because the traffic out of the airport is a regional

problem. For example, there’s 5 million square feet in the city of

Newport Beach. There’s 35 million square feet in the city of Irvine. So

the real traffic generators aren’t this one little project on this

corner. It’s all of these buildings [in Irvine]. Most of the people

coming out of this project won’t even go into this intersection [at

Jamboree and MacArthur].

So I think it’s necessary to understand the traffic study process,

which is based on a statistical analysis, based on assumptions of what

will be built. For example, if Conexant shuts down here, that will have a

total negative impact on the traffic, actually, but I get no credit for

that because this statistical analysis gives you no credit for those kind

of issues. So, if you look at the size of the city, we are insignificant

from the standpoint of the impact on all the voters, the people who live

here.

If it’s not mitigated, it then becomes “significant.” But it’s not the

way you and I understand the term.

Other projects, such as the Dunes and Conexant, held off on

becoming the first Greenlight vote. Why did you step up to the plate?

I don’t believe that that’s the reason they haven’t gone forward.

Conexant right now is facing some corporate issues, and they haven’t

decided to proceed because they’re awaiting resolution of their existing

business plan.

From the standpoint of the Dunes, I think they understand that they’re

down here in the heart of the city, and it would be very difficult for

them to get approval of an increase in their density. They can already

build a 250-room hotel. They didn’t think it was economic, but someone

who buys that, whether it be the city or someone else, can come in and

build a 250-room hotel tomorrow.

We are proceeding because we’ve been at this request since 1997. This

is not a reaction to Greenlight. We started this process before

Greenlight was even a glimmer in anybody’s eye. We started this project

as the logical evolution for a long-term master planned commenced in

1972.

What happens if the voters down the project?

If the voters down the project, at that particular point, we will

evaluate whatever actions we can take, but we will have to decide where

to go from there. We don’t know at this point.

BIO

Name: Tim Strader, Sr.

Hometown: Newport Beach since 1970

Age: 63

Birthplace: Warren, Ohio

Occupation: Real estate developer; one of five Koll Center partners

Education: UCLA Law School; bachelor’s in social science from John

Carroll University in Ohio

Family: Wife of 36 years, Susan; four children, Stephanie Lowe,

Patrick, Megan and Tim, Jr.

Hobbies: Golf, water sports such as wave runners and fishing

Activities: President of Orange County Performing Arts Center when it

opened in 1986; UCI Foundation board member; one of the founders of Santa

Margarita Catholic High School; in 1970, started the Greater Irvine

Industrial League, which has since become the Orange County Business

Council; Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce member; served on Balboa

Peninsula Planning Committee for city of Newport Beach