A wall doesn’t always make a good, well, you know ...

Stacy Brown

CORONA DEL MAR -- A school gymnasium under construction and already

approved by the City Council may wind up the subject of a lawsuit.

Martin Brower said the four-story structure is an eyesore in the backyard

of his Harbor View Hills home -- and so is the wall that has gone up

around the site. Brower said when he returned home from work Friday, he

and his wife gasped when they saw the construction.

“There is no way we can live with this industrial-type building ruining

our home and its value,” said Brower, once a director of public relations

for the Irvine Co. and a former Pilot columnist who now publishes an

Orange County business newsletter.

Officials at Harbor Day School said Brower’s complaint rings hollow.

“We went through the procedures,” said Sidney DuPont, the school’s chief

administrator. “The Planning Commission and the City Council approved

this project, and there was a public hearing where no one spoke out

against this.”

DuPont said construction began last week, and the only complaints

received were about noise. He said since the wall went up last Friday,

only Brower has complained.

Residents in the area appeared indifferent to the construction. A

neighbor who lives a couple of doors from Brower said construction noise,

not the wall, was more irritating.

Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau said chances were remote that

council members would reverse the approval.

“Procedurally there is always a way [to stop the building], Bludau said.

“A council person can bring it back, or construction could exceed the

height limits placed on it. But this was a clean process, openly

discussed, and it looks to me like it’s too late in the process to do

anything about it.”

The Browers, however, are not giving up. The couple has hired an attorney

to seek a temporary injunction to halt construction of the gym.

“If for some reason, our attorney advises that we cannot obtain the

injunction ... we will be forced to bring suit against the city and

Harbor Day School,” Brower said.

The couple said they’ve owned their home in the 3000 block of Catamaran

Drive for 25 years and added that Harbor Day School has long been a “good

neighbor” but insisted that no one would knowingly permit an addition

such as the gymnasium.

“It’s directly behind our house, it’s an eyesore,” Brower lamented. “We

had friends over for dinner the other day and they said ‘My God, what is

that wall doing there?’ ”

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