SCAG mandates 4,832 new dwellings
to satisfy RHNA in Newport Beach.

And thousands more dwellings for other Orange County coastal corridor cities.

Southern California Association of Governments’ (SCAG) revised its 6th Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA … pronounced Reehna)  allocation methodology and mandated that Newport Beach plan for 4,832 more dwelling units by 2020.  And Newport Beach’s General Plan Housing and Circulation Elements will need to be updated to formally reflect this change.

Newport Beach isn’t alone.  SCAG’s revised RHNA impacts all Orange County coastal corridor cities, making the cumulative increase of dwellings untenable in coastal areas noted for their fragile and limited resources and with populations that already increase dramatically most weekends and holidays.

SPON has initiated a Resolution that opposes the most recent RHNA mandate, and seeks to find alternative solutions to local housing needs.  If you have not yet had a chance to endorse the SPON Resolution, please do so here as soon as possible.  The endorsements will be presented to City Council on January  28, 2020.

The City has written letters to the State and its housing agencies, and has established a new Housing Element Advisory Committee.  Applications are in the process of being reviewed.  The City established a unique and varied set of skills that applicants needed in order to apply.  City Council will shortly make their appointments to this new advisory committee.

The General Plan:

Blueprint of our future Newport Beach

If you’ve been thinking about getting involved in local matters, 2020 is the year to do so. And here are just three reasons why:

1. Sacramento has mandated that our city zone for an unreasonably large number of new housing units, and residents
          and stakeholders will need to mobilize in response.
2. The City will move forward with efforts to update our General Plan and address a regional housing crisis.
3. Citizens of Newport Beach will elect three council members in 2020.

Line in the Sand, a volunteer-run, community-supported grass-roots organization can’t tackle these important issues alone.  We depend on you, our supporters, to attend meetings in numbers too large to ignore, write letters to our city leaders and to the press, and to provide financial support through donations large and small.

Working together in this way we can achieve our common goals of protecting and preserving the residential character of the Newport Beach we call home.  We have an impressive record of doing just that!  Let’s continue this momentum through 2020.

“…further growth is far more likely to be the problem than the solution for today’s communities. Urban growth is not something to be sought after like a prize or a blessing. Instead, it is more like a parasite that saps the strength and will of our communities…”

From “Better, Not Bigger – How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your Community”
by Eben Fordor

General Plan Update Resources

Still Protecting our Newport: General Plan Update

General Plan Update Website: NewportTogether.com

City of Newport Beach: General Plan Update

Our Goal:

Effect Positive Change Together

Preserving our beautiful town and residents’ right to participate in that endeavor has been our focus and yours since the last General Plan Update in 2006.

It was not until 2014, when Measure Y proposed a major expansion of Newport Center, that we saw the need to form a standing Political Action Committee to carry out SPON’s mission of preserving and protecting the residential and environmental qualities of Newport Beach.  What began as the No on Y Committee became Line in the Sand PAC (LITS).

Shortly after it was formed, LITS had to mobilize against a plan to build the Museum House condo tower in Newport Center. We gathered 14,000 signatures on a referendum petition in just 14 days as the Christmas holidays approached. This was a huge success and firmly established us as a force to be reckoned with.

Our belief, shared by more and more communities and experts, is that continued, piecemeal growth of density, mass and height is unwanted and undesirable.

It takes a village to save a village . . . and time and again we have helped each other succeed in doing just that.

This Needs to Change
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We’ll keep you in the know about upcoming plans and activities on the topic of high-rise and high-density solutions for Our Town.

This is especially important as the City is preparing to embark on its General Plan Update process which will formalize the vision of Our Town for years to come.  We cannot afford to overlook or underestimate this opportunity.  We must work together to find common ground on the vision of Our Town.

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