EDITORIAL:

Some three years ago, the city of Newport Beach’s search for a new city hall was listing badly.

The $48 million plan to rebuild the structure on the Balboa Peninsula just didn’t seem the right remedy, and public support for the costly project was grounded in opposition.

That was early 2005, and soon after that, we learned local architect and sailing legend Bill Ficker had a better idea for city hall.

Ficker conceived an idea that would take a portion of land the city already owned in Newport Center and construct a city hall that would sit side by side with the city’s crown jewel central library.

The result would be a civic center that would be the envy of the county, maybe even the state or the nation. To Ficker, that would be fitting. He believes his beloved hometown of Newport Beach deserves nothing less than the best.

And for anyone who really listened to Ficker’s idea, it would be hard to not see the wisdom.

Nonetheless, the plan faced hurdles. The land in question — a thin, pie-slice-shape of hillside bordered by Avocado Avenue, San Miguel Road and MacArthur Boulevard — had long been promised as a park. And those who believed the spot to be best served by a park quickly dismissed Ficker’s efforts before they really had a chance to be heard.

If that weren’t bad enough, the City Council dismissed Ficker’s efforts as well, and he was left wondering, as do many who deal with the City Council, how he could get a fair hearing.

On Tuesday Feb. 5 that fair hearing will come as Ficker’s City Hall in the Park proposal goes before Newport Beach voters.

We urge Newport Beach residents to be the final arbiters in this debate about where city hall should go and punch the ballot for a City Hall in the Park and plan the future home for Newport Beach city government.

A vote for this plan on Feb. 5 ensures that both a city hall and a park will be built on that site, fulfilling two goals, and residents of Newport Beach will have a city hall and library facility that everyone can be proud of.

Now the naysayers will try to throw water on all of this. The plan is too costly, they will say. The traffic is bad enough at that spot. The Irvine Co. has another site that is better. A park is priceless.

But all of those arguments don’t really have merit.

First, no park exists there today. And if the plan were approved, both a park and a city hall will coexist. The city hall will take only a portion of the 12-acre site, probably about 3 acres.

In fact, the park can be a perfect complement to the city hall and library grounds.

While the Irvine Co. has offered a site in the 500 block of Newport Center Drive, that site does not appear to be strategically better than the library site in terms of traffic or costs or accessibility.

And in fact, the Irvine Co. has pledged in a recent development agreement to give the city $27 million toward the construction of a new city hall, no matter where it is built.

If for some reason voters don’t approve the City Hall in the Park plan and city hall were constructed at the 500 block site, traffic concerns don’t go away for the Newport Center area.

As for costs, it seems pretty clear to us that building a city hall on land already owned by the city makes financial and common sense.

In the past, those on the council and other naysayers have thrown the red herring out that taking 3 acres of land for the city hall would force the council to find other open space as a replacement, thus hiking the costs of the City Hall in the Park plan.

But that is neither a legal requirement nor a prudent move. And with the Irvine Co. development agreement promising new open space near the Castaways property to the public, it’s really all a moot point.

Just as Greenlight was borne from the frustrations created by a dismissive council and became the law of the land, so too we believe is the destiny of Ficker’s vision.

The council had a chance early on to embrace this idea and make it work. Instead Ficker, a well-known and respected Newport Beach icon, was given the cold shoulder as petty politics and egos got in the way. Some have even, unwisely, tried to taint Ficker’s character.

Now, the voters will have the final say and we’re confident that they will agree with us.

City Hall in the Park is the right answer.