Greenlight councilman pulls back from group

June Casagrande

The city’s first Greenlight councilman said he is distancing himself

from the Greenlight Committee, taking a public stance against the

group’s lawsuit against the city as well as a flier it has been

circulating around town.

“I don’t want to be painted with the same brush,” said Councilman

John Heffernan, who was elected as a Greenlight supporter with the

slow-growth group’s endorsement. “If [Phil] Arst and his Greenlight

Committee want a more strident voice on the council than mine, well,

the filing deadline for them to run a candidate for my seat is the

first week in August.”

A flier circulated recently by the group was particularly

troubling, Heffernan said.

The flier, titled “Focus on Newport,” criticizes the city for

plans to build a new city hall, without making clear that those plans

are not definite.

“Why in a time of state cutbacks in city funding is the City

Council going ahead with a grandiose new city hall?” the flier asks.

Heffernan, who sits on the council subcommittee considering

whether to construct a new city hall, said he never got a call from

any representative of Greenlight.

“If I’m supposed to be their guy, and they want the facts, why

wouldn’t they call me?” Heffernan said Wednesday.

Heffernan serves on the city’s finance committee and is one of two

council members assigned to negotiate a ground lease for the

Marinapark project planned for the peninsula. He said that his

experience in both those areas could have shed light on information

in the flier, which also addresses traffic, hotels including the

Marinapark resort and the group’s intent to file a lawsuit.

“Many of the statements in that mailer are misleading or just

wrong,” Heffernan said.

Greenlight spokesman Arst was out of town Wednesday and could not

be reached for comment. Greenlight representative Richard Taylor

acted as spokesman for the group in his place.

“Just two weeks ago John was sounding like he was completely

supportive of Greenlight, now he’s distancing himself,” Taylor said.

“What’s new? John changes his mind every other week.”

Dick Nichols, the only councilman besides Heffernan endorsed by

Greenlight, did not return calls Wednesday.

Greenlight leaders on Tuesday announced that they had filed a

lawsuit against the city regarding the “Measure S guidelines” -- the

written rules that govern the city’s interpretation of the Greenlight

Initiative, Measure S.

For example, Measure S says that some projects must go to a vote

of the people if they exceed what’s already permitted in the general

plan by 40,000 square feet, 100 peak-hour car trips or 100 dwelling

units. In the case of hotels, however, the general plan usually only

mentions the number of hotel rooms that are permitted, not a square

footage. This long-standing practice is based on engineering

guidelines that consider the number of rooms a better measure of

future traffic than square footage.

Greenlight leaders believe this should be changed, arguing that

the room measure may not accurately account for the traffic generated

by convention and meeting rooms and restaurants that are part of

hotel developments.

The City Council is considering changing the Measure S guidelines

and continued the matter from its March 23 meeting until April 27 in

order to sort through the legalese.

In the meantime, an important anniversary has passed: March 27,

2001, was the date that the original Measure S guidelines were

adopted. Greenlight leaders say they don’t believe that a statute of

limitations would apply on a lawsuit, but they worry that a judge

might disagree.

Greenlight leaders had asked City Atty. Bob Burnham to sign a

“tolling agreement” that would have extended the group’s right to sue

beyond the three-year time period.

Burnham summed up the situation as one that would not have

benefited the residents of the city.

“The Greenlight people said that the guidelines are invalid in

certain respects and we demand that you change the guidelines and if

you don’t we’ll sue you, so we would like you to enter into this

tolling agreement,” Burnham said. “I disagree that the guidelines are

invalid, so, of course, we wouldn’t sign to something like that.”

Arst has said that the decision left them no prudent choice but to

file the suit now.

Heffernan said he has not decided whether he plans to reelection

when his four-year term expires in November.

“Phil Arst and the Greenlight Committee do not speak for me nor, I

suspect, do they speak for many or even a majority of the residents

who voted for the Greenlight ordinance in 2000,” Heffernan said.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].