Chamber takes more swings at Greenlight

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- The Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce on

Wednesday added another wrinkle to the accelerating campaign between two

growth-control measures appearing on the Nov. 7 ballot, claiming that

Measure S would impair church, school and hospital improvement projects.

“The real victims of Measure S are churches, schools, museums,

restaurants, parks, small businesses and even hospitals,” said Richard

Luehrs, the chamber’s president and chief operating officer. “Measure S

will impair or cancel improvements to the institutions that keep our

community vital.”

Measure S, the so-called Greenlight initiative, proposes to put before

a citywide vote any development that allows an increase of more than 100

peak-hour car trips or dwelling units or 40,000 square feet over the

general plan allowance.

Measure T would add parts of the city’s traffic phasing ordinance to

the City Charter and nullify Measure S, should voters approve both

measures.

In a written statement, Luehrs referred to a letter written by Dick

Allen, chairman of Hoag Hospital’s board of directors. The letter was

sent to supporters of both Measures S and T after hospital board members

had interviewed representatives on both sides.

While board members decided not to endorse either measure, Allen’s

letter took up the issue of possible elections the hospital could face

should voters pass Measure S.

The hospital’s current plan -- approved by the city in 1992 and

amended in 1994 -- will allow 400,000 square feet of building space in

addition to a 309,000-square-foot women’s pavilion that is scheduled to

open in 2004. The hospital’s existing nursing tower has floor space

covering 115,000 square feet, said John Heffernan, who has been a board

member since 1995 and sits on the hospital’s facilities committee.

Heffernan, a District 7 City Council candidate endorsed by Greenlight,

added that the hospital’s midterm development projects, rather than its

immediate plans, could require a citywide vote under Measure S.

Future projects would likely require amendments to the master plan and

the city’s general plan, Allen’s letter read.

“Moreover, the Measure S requirement for a citywide election would

most probably be triggered, adding expense and time (albeit broader voter

input) to the process already in place,” Allen continued.

Measure S supporters rejected the chamber’s depiction of their

initiative as hindering improvements to schools, churches and hospitals.

“The chamber will stop at nothing to create fear and panic in the

minds of the residents of Newport Beach,” said Phil Arst, a spokesman for

Measure S. “It is inconceivable that voters would turn down expansion

plans of churches, hospitals and other worthy institutions. The target of

Measure S is the high-rise office buildings and waterfront convention

hotels.”

Arst also suggested that projects such as a proposed hotel and

convention center at Newport Dunes and developments at Newport Center

would pose a threat to the hospital by creating a “virtual gridlock” of

Coast Highway due to increased traffic.

But Measure S foes said the nearly certain guarantee that projects

like the hospital expansion would win voters’ support didn’t matter.

“That isn’t the point,” said Tom Edwards, co-chairman of the Measure T

campaign.

Hospitals and similar institutions “are going to wait two years to see

if people are going to vote on it [in a general election]? I don’t think

so,” he continued. “They’ve got to spend $90,000 for a special election.

“It’s real easy for [Measure S] people to play God and say, ‘Oh, we

will approve this and we won’t approve that.’ That’s one solid example of

why [Measure S] is bad for representative government.”