Banning Ranch and Museum House lose
approvals and Councilman Peotter avoids recall in Newport's top 2017 stories
Banning Ranch
The Newport Banning Land Trust leads a walking tour of the Banning Ranch property in Newport Beach in 2016. In November 2017, the City Council repealed its previous approvals of a residential, hotel and retail development proposed there. (File Photo)
Hillary DavisHillary DavisContact Reporter
A couple of 2016’s bigger development stories continued to make news this year in Newport Beach.
The owners of the Banning Ranch property took a major loss in court, putting up a further roadblock for the proposed housing, retail and hotel development.
In addition, the planned Museum House condominium tower was scrapped after intense public opposition.
Here are several of Newport Beach’s top stories of 2017, as selected by the Daily Pilot and listed with the most recent developments first:
City prevails in resident’s defamation case
A judge ruled that City Councilwoman Diane Dixon did not defame frequent city government critic Mike Glenn when she told him, during a council meeting in April, that he owed more than $600 in fees for public records.
Dixon made the assertion after Glenn spoke against the city-run Balboa Peninsula Trolley.
Glenn said he never specifically asked for hard copies of the records.
Glenn filed a defamation suit this summer in Orange County Superior Court’s small-claims division.
After a brief trial Dec. 19, Judge Thomas Delaney ruled in favor of the city, Dixon and Assistant City Clerk Jennifer Nelson.
Delaney said Glenn proved he didn’t owe the fees, but he also said Dixon’s statement was protected by legislative immunity. He added that Glenn didn’t show he had been damaged by the statement.
Councilman Peotter survives recall attempt
Critics of Councilman Scott Peotter did not submit enough valid petition signatures to trigger a special recall election, according to the Orange County registrar of voters office.
Proponents submitted 8,339 valid signatures but needed 8,445, representing 15% of the city’s registered voters.
Recall organizers filed 10,696 signatures on Oct. 27. The county threw out 2,357 as invalid, including 205 from signers who requested to have their petition endorsements revoked.
Recall proponents said they will seek a recount.
Banning Ranch legal battle comes to an end
A years-long legal battle over a 401-acre coastal swath known as Banning Ranch came to an end after the California Supreme Court ruled in March that the city of Newport Beach had failed to adequately review a residential, hotel and retail development proposed for part of the site, much of which has been fenced off and occupied by oil operations for decades.
The decision concluded a nearly five-year lawsuit by the Banning Ranch Conservancy — which has advocated for the area to remain open space — against the city and developer Newport Banning Ranch LLC.
In November, the City Council repealed its previous approvals of the development in light of the high court’s ruling. And this month, also in response to the court decision, the developer sought to drop its lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission for denying the project.