City council on Tuesday unanimously approved a 50-year lease with the Girl Scouts of Orange County at $1 per year for a portion of Marina Park for a new leadership center.
“We’re here tonight to thank the city of Newport Beach and all of you, staff and elected officials, for including us in the plans for Marina Park,” said CEO of Girl Scouts of Orange County Nancy Nygren, who made a presentation to the council after the girls led the pledge of allegiance near the beginning of the meeting.
The organization has used the current Newport Beach location, the Neva B. Thomas Girl Scout Program Center, since 1949.
The facility serves as a location for troop meetings, overnight stays and activities.
“We’re so excited that we’re going to have the opportunity to continue to do that as a part of Marina Park at the new Girl Scouts leadership center,” Nygren continued.
With the new center at the 1600 W. Balboa Blvd. property, the scouts will also start a new “special focus” program, STEM, about science, technology, engineering, and math, as well as career exploration.
“The girls can’t wait until we open,” she added.
As a thank you gift, the girls passed out their famous cookies to the council members and city staff.
This has been a long time coming, Nygren said.
“The development of Marina Park has always envisioned a Girl Scout house property as part of the project and this brings us a step closer to that reality,” said Laura Detweiler, the city’s recreation and senior services director.
Girl Scouts OC would construct and operate the facility at their own expense, Detweiler explained.
Councilman Rush Hill, putting on his “real estate hat,” said there were a few minor changes he would like to see in the lease.
He suggested defining “in a timely manner” so it’s a little more clear and both parties agree to when personal property and equipment should be removed.
The lease should also include a design compatibility phrase, he continued, so that if anything changes for the Girl Scouts they will still construct it to be consistent with the rest of Marina Park and will need city approval.
Lastly, Hill advised that a sentence be added in case they construct their building following the completion of Marina Park that they repair and replace any damaged property.
The approval included Hill’s changes.
Community watchdog Jim Mosher questioned allowing public land to be used at such a low market rate for a private organization.
He acknowledged that the Girl Scouts and their leadership program are worthy, but questioned the difference between fair market rent and the $1 per year lease.
“I see that difference as a gift of public funds,” he said, and urged the council to disclose the dollar amount of that “gift.”
Mosher said it was ironic, how the council spent two years telling all other harbor users that the city is constitutionally required to obtain a fair market return on public land only to now offer the Girl Scouts, a private non-profit organization, a prime piece of waterfront property at far below market value.
“I have to question both the logic and the wisdom of that,” Mosher said.
Mosher questioned the Girl Scouts ability to pay, the aquatic needs of their center, and the facility benefits for the entire community.
There are many organizations that could make a valid claim for public land, he noted, listing off several possibilities.
“Who wouldn’t like to have a waterfront, leadership center on land leased to them for $1 per year?” asked Mosher, who recalled the city giving public park land to private homeowners associations in Newport Coast. “Are we going to lease out the whole of our public lands to whatever private organization asks? I would hope not.”
“The Girl Scouts contribution to this community and the broader Orange County community is well-known, well documented and well appreciated, I think by everybody, well perhaps not everybody, just about everybody in the community,” Mayor Keith Curry said.
Also during public comment, former Girl Scout Barbara Rawlings, who moved to Newport Beach in 1956, gave a $50 check to the city to cover the entire lease period.
Many of the council members also had Girl Scout ties: Curry’s daughter served as a scout and his wife was a leader, Nancy Gardner was also in the program, Tony Petros was on the GSOC board about a decade ago and his daughters joined the organization, and Ed Selich’s two daughters also participated.
“The return on investment, while it can’t be calculated to the penny, is priceless,” Petros said. “The efforts and the achievements that the Girl Scouts bring to not only Newport Beach, but to Orange County, is unparalleled. And I am excited, for one, to see this move forward.”
“Ok girls,” Curry said after the vote to some applause, “enjoy.”
