{"id":345576,"date":"2025-12-13T02:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T02:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345576\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T02:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T02:22:09","slug":"newport-beach-petition-aims-to-put-approved-surf-park-to-citywide-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345576\/","title":{"rendered":"Newport Beach petition aims to put approved surf park to citywide vote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Newport Beach voters may have the chance to wipe out a surf park project if a petition submitted to City Hall this week qualifies for the November 2026 ballot.<\/p>\n

Steve Vickers, a referendum proponent, turned over more than 9,500 signatures to the Newport Beach City Clerk\u2019s office on Dec. 4 in hopes of forcing a citywide vote on the development, which would replace the central grounds of the Newport Beach Golf Course with an artificial wave pool.<\/p>\n

The Orange County Registrar of Voters is currently reviewing the signatures to see if at least 6,100 are valid, the requisite number for the ballot measure\u2019s going forward.<\/p>\n

The Newport Beach City Council unanimously approved<\/a> the 15-acre, 10-million-gallon surf park on Oct. 28 during a packed council meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City Council once again proved they are tone deaf by approving the financially speculative wave pool project,\u201d argued Benny Hallock, a volunteer chair of the group Save Newport Beach Golf Course. \u201cNearly 2,000 City Council comments were submitted, and hundreds attended the meeting, knowing the fix was in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Snug Harbor Surf Park has driven a wedge in the community, with opposition to the project having grown since a rally in July drew hundreds<\/a> to preserve the golf facility.<\/p>\n

Opponents argue the golf course property is the sole affordable option for the sport in the city and a lifeline for organizations that host fundraisers at the venue. <\/p>\n

Supporters claim the surf park will help train surfers when beach conditions a few miles away are not optimal.<\/p>\n

Before approving the project, the City Council voted to bypass the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission\u2019s concerns<\/a> about the project being in John Wayne Airport\u2019s flight path.<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to the vote, the city also sent a cease-and-desist letter<\/a> to the American Legion Newport Harbor Post 291, as some members of a group affiliated with the organization, including Hallock, had used their titles in public opposition to the project.<\/p>\n

In a Save Newport Beach Golf Course press release, Hallock cited both instances as ones where Newport Beach officials \u201cput their thumb on the scale.\u201d <\/p>\n

Proponents of the petition claim a coalition of residents, small business owners, veterans, golfers, environmentalists and surfers worked hard to collect thousands of signatures within 30 days amid inclement weather and the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.<\/p>\n

The effort also received donations from more than 145 contributors, though it is unclear at this time who may be financially backing the ballot petition.<\/p>\n

Hallock told The Pilot his coalition wants the ballot measure scheduled for next November\u2019s general election, as opposed to conducting a costly special election months earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe November 2026 general election is the most cost effective for Newport\u2019s taxpayers,\u201d Hallock added.<\/p>\n

Newport Beach Mayor Lauren Kleiman, appointed to the position during a council reorganization meeting Tuesday, did not comment for this story.<\/p>\n

If the Registrar certifies enough valid signatures, council members could either repeal their approval of the surf park or schedule the ballot measure for a citywide vote.<\/p>\n

Next November, Newport Beach voters will already be deciding a referendum on whether to reverse course<\/a> on a council-approved housing plan, after petitioners in that effort gathered a sufficient number of valid signatures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newport Beach voters may have the chance to wipe out a surf park project if a petition submitted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18054,172725,4,450,26188,61453,66524,451,9079,172728,172727,3,19079,12325,1744,106381,172726,127464,452,453,19043],"class_list":["post-345576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-ballot","tag-benny-hallock","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-city-council","tag-city-hall","tag-coalition","tag-headlines","tag-hundred","tag-newport-beach-golf-course","tag-newport-beach-petition","tag-news","tag-november","tag-organization","tag-project","tag-signature","tag-surf-park","tag-surfer","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}