It takes a vision

Mathis Winkler

CORONA DEL MAR -- It’s a project that will require some major surgery,

but Corona del Mar leaders hope it will heal the wounds Newport Beach’s

major traffic artery has cut through the village’s heart.

Right now, Vision 2004 -- a plan to revamp East Coast Highway for

Corona del Mar’s centennial in 2004 -- remains little more than some

artist renderings and countless hours of discussing the project with

residents and business people.

But “if we pull it off,” said Edward Selich -- a Newport Beach

planning commissioner, Corona del Mar resident and Vision 2004

coordinator -- “it’s going to be one of the most exciting things that’s

ever happened in Newport Beach.”

Early next year, the group plans to give a progress report to City

Council members. The city’s elected officials in February unanimously

backed the village’s business improvement district plan to begin talks

with Caltrans officials about relinquishing control over the highway to

the city.

Unlike Mariner’s Mile, the strip of highway on the other side of the

bay, East Coast Highway has functioned as a meeting point for residents

despite its appearance.

And the unsightly thoroughfare, frequented by 40,000 cars daily,

would get a splash of color if the project goes ahead as planned.

Street medians -- most of them empty concrete islands -- would be

filled with plants to create a linear park, Selich said. The gray light

poles and traffic signals would be replaced with others in “forest or

verde green,” and park benches, water fountains and outdoor dining areas

would help foster a pedestrian-oriented village atmosphere.

A plan to pave parking stalls with the same stones as the sidewalks

would help to create the illusion of more space to walk and less space to

drive without actually narrowing the street -- a crucial consideration

along this busy stretch of road.

A proposed village green at the corner of East Coast Highway and

Marguerite Avenue would become a central meeting point for residents.

Selich said he became interested in the idea to lift the village’s

business district out of its bleak reality when the city removed ficus

trees along the highway in the summer of 1999.

Instead of volunteering his expertise to help undo the damage, Selich

found himself as one of the leaders in the effort to bring back the

village to Corona del Mar.

Although Selich said he expected to complete the hand overfrom

Caltrans by midyear next year, with the highway’s one-mile stretch in

Corona del Mar coming under city control in early 2002, the group still

has several hurdles to overcome to get to that point.

First, council members must pass a resolution to take ownership of the

highway, said Gail Smith, a Caltrans spokeswoman. Next comes legislation,

which will require the sponsorship of a state legislator. After all that,

the California Transportation Commission must still sign off on the deal.

Whenever the control over a highway changes hands, Caltrans will

assess the costs to get it to a “state of good repair,” Smith said.

However, while in some cases the new agency will request to take over

the highway when repairs have been completed, Selich said the Vision 2004

group plans to use the funds for its own improvement project instead.

Because the money won’t cover all the costs, Selich said his group was

also looking into other state funds to make up the difference. He added

that a cost estimate did not yet exist.