Tonight, Newport Beach voters are deciding whether to slash the amount of new housing in town in a move that could put them at odds with state regulators.
As of 9:30 p.m., 66.6% of voters had voted no on Measure H, while 33.4% had voted yes.
Of the 21,509 votes counted, 14,324 were no votes and 7,185 were yes.
Measure H, which was primarily financed by local developer Ken Picerne, looks to cut down the city’s zoning for housing to 2,900 units, while keeping allocations for affordable housing high.
A yes vote is in favor of this change, a no vote would keep the housing plan the same.
The city’s housing plan currently calls for 4,845 units to be planned for.
Of those, 1,456 would be for very low-income, 930 for low-income, 1,050 for moderate-income and 1,409 units for above moderate-income.
The measure calls for 2,900 units to be planned for, with 2,160 units for extremely low- to low-income households and 740 units for moderate.
Those against the measure, including Newport Beach City Councilmembers Noah Blom, Michelle Barto and Sara Weber, say that this action will lead to the housing plan being denied and costly penalties from the state, as Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa have seen this year.
But, those in support, like former Newport mayor Marshall Duffield and an organization known as Still Protecting Our Newport, say the measure will prevent unnecessary overdevelopment and traffic in the city.
Every eight years, the state hands out to every city a number of housing units that must be planned to be built for, to counter the housing crisis in California.
