Park site to get new attention

Alicia Robinson

The next step in determining the future of the Marinapark site will

be taken by the Newport Beach City Council tonight.

Voters in November unequivocally rejected Measure L, a proposal to

rezone the property for a luxury hotel. Critics charged that because

the land is zoned for recreation and open space, it should become a

park or some other public use, but even the strongest hotel opponent,

the Protect Our Parks group, said residents should be involved in the

decision.

Now they’ll get their chance. The council will decide tonight

whether it likes Mayor Steve Bromberg’s proposal to form an ad hoc

committee of various city commission members and several residents to

explore alternatives for the waterfront Marinapark property.

“The people voted Measure L down, which to me was a mandate that

there should be no hotel, but it’s not a mandate that there should be

a park,” Bromberg said. “Whatever’s going to go there absolutely

needs to have significant public input.”

The committee’s first job would be to decide whether the mobile

home park on the property should stay or go. Bromberg stressed that

the committee will look at possibilities for the land but not make a

recommendation.

As Bromberg has envisioned it, the committee would include members

of city groups such as the Harbor Commission and Planning Commission

as well as three council members and up to five members of the

public.

Council members on the commission would also work on the question

of the tidelands boundary, which the city has pursued for some time.

Tidelands are state-owned property reserved for public use, and while

it’s clear that some of Marinapark is tidelands, no one is sure how

much.

Bromberg will suggest himself as chairman of the ad hoc committee,

with Councilmen Tod Ridgeway and Don Webb on the committee as well.

Ridgeway represents the district that includes Marinapark, and while

he signed the ballot statement in favor of Measure L, Webb signed the

one opposing it.

As for the rest of the committee members, Bromberg said he is

hoping to pick people who can get past the divisiveness of the

campaigns for and against Measure L.

“There were so many bad feelings and hard feelings that came out

of the election,” he said. “If this committee is to succeed, it must

go forward with the highest level of professionalism and civility.”

Tom Billings, who founded Protect Our Parks to oppose the resort

proposed for Marinapark, was invited by Bromberg to serve on the

committee. Billings said he appreciates the invitation but hopes

several members of his grass-roots group will have input.

Billings said he’s wary of having Bromberg and Ridgeway on the

committee because both have supported using the property to generate

revenue for the city.

“The ad hoc committee is a good first step, but it shouldn’t be

represented by development-oriented individuals from the city or

elsewhere,” Billings said. “That’s not what the land-use vote was

about. It was about preserving it for recreation and open space.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].