City Hall plans left near end of council agenda

Andrew Edwards

Debate about whether Newport Beach should replace or renovate its

City Hall continued late into Tuesday’s City Council meeting. No

decision on the project was made by press time.

The council was scheduled to decide between three preliminary

designs.

The least expensive calls for a near-complete replacement of the

existing City Hall and Council Chambers at a cost of $19.7 million.

The most expensive option would expand the existing civic center and

replace the chambers for about $24.2 million.

Council members knew that any decision would come late in the

meeting.

“It’s going to be a long night tonight,” said Newport Beach Mayor

Steve Bromberg.

Costs for adding an adjacent fire station and parking structure to

the City Hall complex were also scheduled to be revealed Tuesday.

The city hosted meetings in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s

vote. Officials favoring new city digs have said Newport’s City Hall

is too crammed with city employees, while others have criticized the

estimated costs of the proposal.

A citizens group, Newporters for Responsible Government, recently

formed to seek a public vote on the project. If a new city hall is

built, construction would likely be exempt from Measure S, the city’s

Greenlight law, as a new civic center is not likely to involve land

use above what is already allowed in the city’s general plan. Group

members point to a provision in the city’s charter that requires a

public vote on any bonds issued by the city, but they worry a vote

will be avoided if the city chooses an alternate funding strategy.

Construction could be funded if the city’s Public Facilities

Corporation, the City Council under a different name, issued

financial instruments called certificates of participation to voters,

City Manager Homer Bludau said. Bludau, who favors a new hall, said

this method is only one financial option that could be considered and

that it was too early to make a list of funding alternatives.

Newporters for Responsible Government spokesman John Buttolph

called this method debt by another name, and group members view this

possibility as simply a way for city officials to avoid putting the

proposal on the ballot.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.