A ballot measure addressing housing pushed by a Newport Beach community group will go before voters in November, but the City Council has scheduled three more initiatives from the same group for the 2028 general election.
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City Attorney Aaron Harp confirmed Wednesday that the housing initiative — it asks whether the city should adopt a housing plan that exceeds state mandates but with a smaller buffer than currently baked in — will be on the November ballot.
The city did not get court approval for an emergency appeal to an Orange County Superior Court judge’s ruling last week blocking the city’s efforts to challenge whether the ballot initiative qualified under the election code, Harp said, but still intends to file one when the process allows
Three other voter initiatives sponsored by the Newport Beach Stewardship Association related to processes for City Council meetings, term limits and how voters select council members in districts were approved for the 2028 ballot by a council majority on Tuesday.
Councilmembers Robyn Grant and Michelle Barto were opposed. Grant supported putting the measures on the upcoming ballot to close the books on this saga.
“I do believe our city benefits from some certainty,” Grant said. “We need to look at the larger context of what prolonging this matter does for our community.”
The initiatives’ proponents turned in the required number of signatures in July — it was that process that alerted the city clerk that the housing initiative might not have been properly noticed to the public, which Judge Julianne Bancroft last week ruled it was and should proceed for November.
Nancy Scarbrough, an activist and resident associated with the initiatives, said she was disappointed by the council’s actions to stall the initiatives’ placement, adding that she finds the decision “shocking and disturbing.”
The council approved the wording of the three new initiatives — they each seek changes to the city charter — last week and the judge gave the council discretion over which ballot they would appear.
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“Holding the election in November 2028 will allow for careful preparation and public review of accurate ballot questions, impartial analyses, arguments and rebuttals, and other voter information,” city officials said in a statement on Wednesday, explaining why the council chose the later date.
Also, 2028 is the next ballot with municipal and statewide races, officials said, which should ensure broader voter participation because they typically have the largest turnout.
“The council believes this approach promotes broad voter participation, informed decision-making, orderly election administration and public confidence in the process,” the city statement said.
In June, the city challenged in court the publication of the required notices in the Orange County Reporter, saying that the Daily Pilot is the city’s paper of record.
But Bancroft ruled that the Orange County Reporter, where the notice was published, has been adjudicated as a “newspaper of general circulation.”
“Therefore, the court finds that notice for all four initiatives was properly published before the collection of signatures began,” Bancroft said in her court filing last week. “The Registrar of Voters has confirmed that sufficient signatures were obtained for all four initiatives.”
As part of Bancroft’s ruling, the council had to place the discussion on this week’s agenda because the deadline for printing the November ballots is fast approaching.
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