COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:

I have just completed reading the Planning Commission staff report regarding the Irvine Co. request for a development agreement with the city affecting Fashion Island and the northern portion of Newport Center.

Four-hundred and fifty pages of supporting material include a report, development agreement and highly technical data over the heads of most residents, including me.

However, I have discussed the subject with the project city planner, the assistant city manager and several people who are knowledgeable concerning local planning. It is one of the largest developments in the history of our city.

The proposed development agreement results from unpublicized negotiations by two council members with the Irvine Co. and private council discussions.

These have been without benefit of expert consultants (even the city manager), interim reports, public communication or publicity.

The plan was first exposed at a joint council and Planning Commission study session on Oct. 30, virtually without public comment.

The staff report, recommending approval and dated Nov. 15, is supposed to be digested and forwarded to the City Council with a recommendation after a Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, with primary action by the council on Dec. 15 and final action shortly thereafter. This is an unprecedented brief timeline. The report is very difficult to understand.

Proposal: What might be helpful would be to add a notice on the front page of the report in red, bold 16-point caps along the following lines:

This 450-page staff report includes a proposed development agreement with the Irvine Co. in Newport Center. It grants to the Irvine Co. the virtually unfettered right to develop and build 300,000 additional square feet in Fashion Island, plus 430 residences.

It substitutes 250,000 square feet of high-rise office buildings for a planned hotel expansion or development entitlement. Office and residential buildings can be built to a height of 375 feet or 50% higher than the tallest building in Newport Center.

There are no conceptual models, plot plans or illustrations of the proposed project at buildout.

The development, will add approximately 3,000 vehicle trips per day (not including traffic from a new city hall in the park) to several nearby intersections, two of which are currently operating at “unsatisfactory” peak hour levels.

It provides for maximum density of construction, questionable planning standards and parking ratios and setbacks below current city standards.

It anticipates the use of valet parking and busing, not as a convenience, but as a requirement.

It is transferable to anyone, including slum lords, to manage the low-income element, without significant limits.

Legally, this plan may be an amendment to the general plan requiring a city vote, but there will be no vote by the residents. By the way, the Irvine Co. is going to pay the city approximately $46 million and confer certain “benefits.”

Conclusion. Actually, you do not have to read this report at all.

It will be a done deal before Christmas (while everyone is busy) and you cannot do anything about it. Ho ho ho.

Is it a good deal for the city? Was the city over-matched in the negotiations?

It would take experts some time to figure this out, but a very rough answer is instructive: Just considering the residence entitlement, what would be the value of a 3,000-square-foot pied a terre on the 27th floor of a Newport Center high-rise whose owners could look down their noses on their Newport Coast neighbors as part of a sweeping 240-degree view of Southern California and the Pacific?

How about $15 million? Four-hundred and thirty units?

You do the math and make adjustments. Hint: The total will still take 10 digits.

Proponents of this carefully orchestrated program and the City Council apparently do not want people to get a handle on it so there can be a community response.

When fully informed our residents have consistently limited egregious growth. Is our council dealing fairly and candidly with our residents? Is this city government at its worst? You be the judge.

GEORGE JEFFRIES is a retired Newport Beach lawyer and a 45-year resident of the city. He has been an arts commissioner, library trustee and has supported moderate growth organizations.