Future cloudy for council districts

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Taking a lesson from the tug-of-war battle to annex

Newport Coast, city officials may postpone redrawing council districts

until after Santa Ana Heights and Bay Knolls are brought inside the

city’s boundaries.

At their study session Tuesday, City Council members will consider

several plans for redrawing the city’s seven council districts. Leading

the list of options is: Do nothing.

“Nobody seems ready to carve them up; it’s a very political decision,”

said City Councilman John Heffernan, who was one of three council members

on a subcommittee to examine alternatives.

The city charter requires that council districts be reexamined every

four years to keep up with demographic changes. But in a time when

annexation of unincorporated Newport Coast turned into an unexpectedly

fierce battle, some demographic and boundary changes are harder than ever

to predict. And Banning Ranch -- a proposed development of 82 low- and

moderate-income apartments at an undeveloped area at the city’s

westernmost edge -- further muddies the waters.

“I’m not sure there’s a compelling reason to do anything at all with

Districts 1 through 6,” said Councilman Steve Bromberg, a subcommittee

member, after the body’s first two meetings. “They appear to be pretty

balanced.”

District 7, however, which is Heffernan’s district, may soon contain

an additional 7,000 residents if Newport Coast is annexed by the city.

But both times city officials began celebrating the community’s

annexation, they learned they had spoken too soon. Citizens fighting to

get the matter on a ballot twice put the brakes on annexation. Their most

recent court challenge has been thrown out, once again making it seem

that the area will become part of the city.

City districts are supposed to be roughly equal in population and

follow natural and logical boundaries. City staff have prepared several

alternatives for redrawing council districts. If annexation occurs as

planned, it will mean that Heffernan’s district will contains 4,651

people more than the goal of having 10,809 in each district. When and if

Bay Knolls and Santa Ana Heights are annexed by the city, they would

likely fall into Mayor Gary Adams’ district one.

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission is expected to

consider in February or March whether Newport Beach will annex 190 homes

in Bay Knolls and 460 in east Santa Ana Heights.