Newport sued over city hall ballot

A local activist suing Newport Beach to keep a measure off the February ballot to decide whether to build the next City Hall next to the central library said Tuesday he hopes a ruling in the matter will come before the end of the year.

“I’m asking to have it taken off the ballot because it’s an improper thing to have on the ballot,” said Allan Beek, a longtime Newport Beach resident and a member of the group Parks are Priceless. “The council has decide it’s safe to put in on the ballot. It’s up to me to challenge it.”

A phone call to Newport Beach City Atty. Robin Clauson was not returned Tuesday.

Beek is listed as the only plaintiff in the suit. The activist is financing the suit with his own money, but said he has a “rooting section” of other Newport Beach residents.

“Of all the rooting section, I was the one who felt the lawsuit was the most important thing to do,” Beek said. “It’s like my father use to say, ‘What’s everybody’s business is nobody’s business.’ When nobody else takes care of it, it’s up to me.”

Beek’s Escondido-based attorney, Everett DeLano, an expert in environmental law, filed a preliminary brief in the suit last week.

If a ruling on the matter is not issued before the end of the year, the suit could keep the measure tied up in court even if it passes, Beek said.

Proponents of the measure say they don’t expect the suit to keep the measure off the ballot next year.

“We’re very positive, and we don’t see anything on the horizon that is unsettling to us in our efforts,” said lead measure proponent Bill Ficker of the group City Hall in the Park. “We feel the electorate is going to have a good opportunity to express where they want city hall.”

The suit alleges the February ballot measure is illegal because it leaves the city hall issue up to voters, when only the City Council has the power to make a decision on the matter. If passed, the initiative, called Measure B on the February ballot, would change the city charter to require city hall to be built next to the central library on Avocado Avenue. A 1992 agreement with the Irvine Co. designated part of the site as a park, and the majority of the council has rejected using it for a city hall. The group City Hall in the Park collected 8,997 signatures earlier this year, qualifying the measure for the ballot. Among other issues, the group contends the site next to the central library is the best place for the next city hall because the city already owns the land.

“It seems like a waste of taxpayers’ money to battle a lawsuit or whatever the city has to do,” Ficker said. “Allan Beek has always been a proponent of people voting on things, and this seems like a departure on that.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].