Newport Beach sets priority list

With a decision on where to locate Newport Beach City Hall close but still elusive, city staff members have put other priorities at the top of their list for 2006-07.

Priority No. 1 is resolving negotiations with the county over “sphere issues,” or areas where city officials lack authority but hope to have more say, City Manager Homer Bludau said.

Those areas include John Wayne Airport, where the city wants protection from future expansion; the Santa Ana Heights redevelopment agency, a multimillion-dollar fund devoted to improvements in Santa Ana Heights; and management of the Upper Newport Bay and tidelands property such as Newport Dunes.

Bludau creates a priority list every year, and the sphere issues topped it for the second consecutive year. The city has been negotiating with the county for nearly three years, Bludau said.

“They’ve taken so long because we’ve looked at a number of different issues; some have been added to the discussion list, some have been subtracted,” he said. “We’ve looked at enough issues where it’s pretty complex and it’s easy to become bogged down.”

But the end is in sight ? Bludau expects to bring an agreement to the council in late July.

Moving up a notch from last year is the general plan update, now at No. 2. The council’s work on the plan, which will guide development in the city for the next two decades, should be finished this month. Parts of the plan ? it’s not yet clear which ? will be placed on the November ballot. A vote is required by Measure S, the development control law known as Greenlight.

“We hope that we have modernized the general plan,” Mayor Don Webb said. “We have striven to show that the new, revised general plan will have less traffic than the old general plan, so we feel that’s a net benefit.”

Clearing up issues with a possible new civic center is No. 3, but that may take big step toward resolution later this month, when council members could vote on one of two suggested sites for the city hall.

Next on the priority list is beginning to issue local coastal permits to residents who want to replace their docks or build a minor home addition, for example. The California Coastal Commission issues the permits, but once the city finishes the state-required local coastal plan,city officials will also be authorized to grant some permits.

Rounding out the list are: finalizing a design for Marinapark; a 20-year plan to replace aging buildings; hiring for top vacant positions, such as the police and fire chiefs; a method of developing leadership within the ranks of city workers; and preparing to replace the Oasis senior center.

Bludau said he will fill out the list with priorities that council members suggested, including disaster preparedness, improving traffic flow, acquiring a piece of Caltrans property at Coast Highway and Superior Avenue, and upgrading how the city considers building plans.