City leaders vote to study hall choices

Decision means committees will be set up to look at funding, new sites and citywide needs.The Newport Beach City Council will study locations for a new city hall and financing for the project as well as other city facilities, council members decided late Tuesday.

With the 5-2 vote, the council was consciously stepping back from plans for a $48-million civic center that include a new city hall, a fire station and a parking structure at the existing City Hall’s Balboa Peninsula site.

Councilman Tod Ridgeway has been one of the biggest proponents of the project, but he said Wednesday he’s not disappointed with the council’s decision.

“I find it heartening, even though I lost the vote, that there was a good, spirited debate up there,” he said. “We’re pushing the process in a good direction in a quick manner.”

The other minority vote was cast by Councilman Steve Rosansky.

The council will choose members for the committees -- two council members and seven to 10 residents -- in January. The committees will have until May 1 to give recommendations to the council.

Outlining the city’s facilities needs for the next 15 years promises to be a big job. Many public facilities are 40 to 60 years old, said City Manager Homer Bludau.

Some likely candidates for replacement or overhaul include the Oasis Senior Center, the Corona del Mar and Mariners fire stations, the lifeguard headquarters, the Peninsula branch library and the police station. The committee also could look at development of park sites.

It’s unclear how much all that work will cost. A residents group is gathering signatures for a ballot measure that would require voter approval before the city could borrow more than $3 million.

“At this point, I wouldn’t even want to suggest a figure, but it is going to be substantial because so many of our buildings are about the same age,” Bludau said.

Although building a new city hall topped Bludau’s priority list in 2004, he’s satisfied with the steps that have been taken.

“I think we’ve come a long way in getting the community to recognize that a new city hall is needed, and that is a major move in public perception, so I respect the council wanting to gain wide community support for the location issue and the financing issue,” he said.

Some council members expect the study of possible city hall sites to help build consensus. But others predict such obstacles with any new site that the council will decide not to move City Hall.

“The bottom line is I think we’ll spend six months and we’ll come back to the same decision, that City Hall is where it needs to be,” Rosansky told the council at the meeting.

The comments from about 20 residents who spoke Tuesday reflected a sharp division in the community. Some people said they trust the council to decide on a city hall, while others complained that they’ve stopped speaking up because the council doesn’t listen.

“Public outreach often happens after consultants have been hired and thousands of dollars spent,” Barbara Rawlings told council members.

“We can’t advise you on your vote because our presence comes too late, and I don’t just mean tonight. It’s not apathy; it’s futility.”

A delay to study the city hall might not bring all the project’s critics on board, but one thing it’s guaranteed to do is drive up the cost -- one way or another.

Heffernan estimated buying another site would push the city hall cost up by about 50%. Even waiting to build at the current site carries a price, with interest rates on borrowed money expected to rise and construction costs climbing steadily. Consultant Roger Torriero noted the price of building has gone up 15% to 20% a year for the last three years, most recently because natural disasters have caused a spike in building material costs.

“To me it’s fiscally irresponsible if we allow this to drag on, and let me say an alternate site would drag on for two or three years,” Ridgeway said.