Survey targets traffic relief law

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- The preliminary results of a chamber survey showed that

87% of residents support the city’s law that provides traffic relief from

new developments.

The finding is based on an unscientific sampling of about 4,000

registered voters who responded to a survey conducted by the Newport

Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber sent 30,000 questionnaires to registered voters in an attempt

to find out what people think of the city’s stringent law, which was

recently amended to ease up on developers.

To counter the Greenlight initiative, which proposes to give voters the

final say on certain developments, local political and business leaders

are in the process of trying to get an initiative on the ballot to seal

the law into the city charter. The new initiative would ensure that the

traffic relief law could not be changed without a citywide vote.

Greenlight supporters say their slow-growth measure -- formally called

the Protect from Traffic and Density initiative -- would help the city

get rid of traffic problems. They have accused those behind the new

initiative of trying to confuse the city’s voters.

Last month, the chamber conducted a phone survey, which Greenlight

advocates called “dirty campaigning.” Greenlight proponents said the

survey was aimed at changing voters’ minds about their slow-growth

measure. At the time, chamber officials insisted that the 20-minute phone

survey was legitimate and simply part of its attempt to shape an

opposition.

Chamber president Richard Luehrs said the telephone poll of 600 residents

was intended to determine if people know about the city’s traffic relief

law. The chamber also held information forums on the law last month.

The mail-in survey is the latest step in the chamber’s efforts in

informing people about the traffic relief law -- which is at the center

of a strategy to usurp the Greenlight initiative’s hold over

traffic-hating voters.

From the chamber’s perspective, the Greenlight measure won’t stop

traffic, but it will stop growth in the city.

“The [Traffic Phasing Ordinance] requires developers to fix bad

intersections,” Luehrs said. “We think that’s good. We don’t see the

Greenlight initiative doing that.”

However, Greenlight supporters have said that the 1977 traffic relief law

was “gutted” in 1999 when the City Council amended the it, saying it

imposed unfair financial burdens on developers.

The amendments not only changed the way costs were assigned to

developers, but also lowered the number of council votes required to

override the fees.

If the proponents of the new initiative are able to collect 7,000 valid

signatures in the next three weeks, the measure will appear next to the

Greenlight measure on the November ballot.

QUESTION:

What do you think of the new measure that is based on the city’s law that

provides traffic relief from new developments? Call our Readers Hotline

at (949) 642-6086 or e-mail your comments to o7

[email protected] . Please tell us your name and hometown, and

include a phone number (for verification purposes only).