Newport Beach to make deposit on park

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- The city will put down a $209,250 deposit on 12

acres of vacant land in West Newport Beach that officials have been

trying to turn into a community park for more than a decade.

“That’s really good news,” said Councilwoman Jan Debay at Tuesday’s

council meeting. “It’s a nice way to end my eight years.”

Debay, who will leave office after the November election and has

represented West Newport Beach, said the park proposal for the land on

West Coast Highway and Superior Avenue was one of her campaign platforms

in 1992.

The site “probably has one of the best views in the city,” she said.

“It will be a real showpiece.”

The deposit will lock in the price for the site at nearly $4.2

million, Debay said. Eighteen months ago, the land would have cost $3.7

million, she said.

A year after making the initial deposit, the city will have to put

down another $335,750 to hold on to its exclusive right to buy the

property, Debay said. Altogether, the city will have 18 months to decide

whether to buy the land or pursue other options to secure its conversion

into a park.

Caltrans bought the land as part of a plan to build the Pacific Coast

Freeway in the 1960s. In 1971, Newport Beach voters rejected the freeway

proposal, and the site has sat vacant ever since.

Hoag Hospital bought another Caltrans property on Pacific Coast

Highway to build its lower campus, Debay said.

A transfer of the land from Caltrans to the Coastal Conservancy, a

state agency that buys, protects and restores coastal areas, is one

option to turn the land into a park without using city money, Debay said.

She added that the city would work with state legislators such as Sen.

Ross Johnson (R-Irvine) to look into the possibility of such a transfer.

Although the city’s park funds do not contain a lot of money right

now, Debay said a developer for the Banning Ranch area would have to add

money to the fund when its projects are approved. That could give the

city more funds to pay for the park if the legislative approach fails.

The park, christened Sunset Ridge Park by residents, would include

sports fields and playgrounds, as well as walkways and benches. The

fields would be used only during the day, and no lights would be added,

Debay said.