COMMUNITY COMMENTARY: No conflict of interest in park, commissioner says

Tom Johnson’s column “Conflicted in Debra Allen Park” (Friday, March 23) suggests that I sought appointment to the Newport Beach Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission seven years ago and have served on that parks commission ever since so I could pad my pockets with the increase in the value of my home from development of Newport Center Park. That is outrageous and totally untrue.

Johnson and the editorial staff failed to investigate or even call to give me a chance to explain the facts. The Daily Pilot does not appear to care about the facts. I hope you do. Here they are.

I have been an unpaid volunteer for civic causes in Newport Beach all of my adult life. I began my volunteering in the late 1970s on the steering committee of Stop Polluting Our Newport. From 1978 through 1982, I served as a volunteer planning commissioner for the city. At that time, the city attorney told me that I had no conflict of interest in voting on any project that lay across MacArthur Boulevard from my home. The Daily Pilot didn’t like me too well back then either. I always voted for lower density and open space. The Pilot was always on the developer’s side.

I was the founding president of the Corona del Mar Resident’s Assn. from 1986 until the mid 1990s. I still serve on the board as vice president. I have served on the board of Speak Up Newport for about 15 years, serving for the last three years as the organization’s president. I get no pay, no perks and there is no park.

Now, for my parks commission service. I was appointed seven years ago when two commissioners had resigned and the city was looking for a female commissioner. I spent months holding hearings and rewriting the city’s tree policy. I have worked to develop parks all over the city. There are too many to mention, but some notables include the active athletic fields in Bonita Canyon Sports Park and Arroyo Park. At the request of City Councilman Don Webb, I have worked to protect the residents of the Mariners area from spill-over lighting from the fields at Mariners Park. I even worked very hard trying, although unsuccessfully, to persuade the City Council to put permanent irrigation, grass and flowers around the edges of Back Bay View Park on Jamboree Road and Pacific Coast Highway, and add a gazebo with benches. I felt this would soften the look of the native plants that the Coastal Commission required on the flat park surface.

I also have been active as a volunteer in fundraising and planning for Newport Center Park. The plans are about 90% complete and call for a lovely turf grass meadow with a circular seating area for library programs behind the library. The north end of the park would be mostly native plants. Everyone from the City to the Irvine Co. to Stop Polluting Our Newport agreed this was a great plan.

The funds were raised through a private donor, and the city was just about to solicit bids to build the park when along came Bill Ficker, who wanted to build City Hall there. Citizens opposed that idea at City Council. I was one of them. We won, and the personal attacks on me began.

About a month ago, someone anonymously went to the city attorney and said my house was within 500 feet of the property line for the park. Assistant City Atty. Aaron Harp looked at a geographic information system (GIS) map and agreed. He said my home was 375 feet from the park, albeit across a 4- to 6-lane divided highway, MacArthur Boulevard. According to a survey I had done Friday, the corner of the library closest to my property (certainly not the “park site”) is 480 feet from my property line. The land for the park itself starts more than 550 feet from my property line.

However, according to the city attorney, the GIS number, right or wrong, raises a “presumption” of a “potential” conflict of interest. I found out I could not get a ruling from the Fair Political Practices Commission because the commission does not give advice on decisions that have already been made. So, I asked Harp if there was a way to overcome the presumption, and he said, “Well, you could get an appraisal.” In other words, I had to show that the development of the park property would not affect the value of my home. Then there is no conflict!

At my own expense, I sought out one of the most respected, best-qualified, certified real estate appraisers in Newport Beach. He inspected my property and reviewed all the plans for this land. He looked at the plans for the passive park, the proposal for an active park with soccer field and not one but two of .Ficker’s plans for a City Hall on the site. He ruled unequivocally that, “None of the different proposals for the property between MacArthur and Avocado will have any effect on the value of [my] property.”

I sent this appraisal to the council. I could have made it available to Johnson before he wrote his article. I’ll still let him see it if he asks, but I doubt he will. As today’s editorial says, “The damage is done.” The damage was done by the Pilot. I have no conflict of interest. I deserve an apology.