Naming of park splits Newport leaders

It’s officially named Newport Center Park now, but the parcel next to the Newport Beach Central Library may also bear the name of a donor if the city accepts the money.

But since the park site was proposed as a place for a new city hall, every decision connected with the park has been difficult for the City Council, and accepting a financial gift is no exception.

The council is officially considering an Orange County Transportation Authority site for city hall, but council members are split on whether the park site is a better option.

A donor, who so far has been kept anonymous, first offered the city $1.2 million to build the park in 2005. But park planning soon got bogged down, so the donor gave half the money to something else, city officials said. A $600,000 gift is still on the table in exchange for naming rights. That’s one thing council members argued over at Tuesday’s meeting. Their own policy says naming rights are granted when a gift covers at least 75% of a facility’s cost, but the Newport Center Park donation would only be about 17% of what’s planned.

The estimated cost of the park went from about $1.2 million in 2005 to $3.75 million this year, due to poor original estimates and changes to the design.

“This has gotten into a real donnybrook,” said Councilman Don Webb, who objected to granting naming rights under the circumstances. “I hate to see it happening, but when this donation was originally made it was to be a million-dollar donation.”

But Councilman Ed Selich said he doesn’t think giving naming rights would violate council policy because the park wouldn’t solely be named after the donor — it would still be called Newport Center Park. The donor’s name would be on the park entrance sign, though.

The council already granted the naming rights in June 2005, so “it’s kind of reversing a previous position” to decide not to put the donor’s name on the park, Selich said.

The issue will come up again at the June 12 meeting, when the council will consider moving ahead with building the park.

But with three council members against proceeding with the park until a city hall site is found, more debates and another split vote are likely.