Newport submits coastal plan to state

Paul Clinton

City officials have taken another step toward issuing their own

coastal development permits by submitting a draft of their Local

Coastal Plan to the state’s coastal panel.

City leaders handed the plan to the California Coastal Commission

on Friday, following more than a year of community input and fierce

debate over a roughly 150-page document that would set development

standards for the coastline and public beach access.

The city submitted the first draft of the coastal plan, which

updates an earlier plan certified in 1990. The final plan is due June

30 in accordance with state law.

Instead of offering broad or sweeping new regulations, Newport

Beach’s proposed coastal plan mostly collects and documents existing

material, said Councilman Tod Ridgeway, the chairman of the committee

that crafted the plan.

“We just never put all the pieces together,” Ridgeway said about

the need for the plan. “This [plan] really puts it all together.”

The new plan incorporates the Upper Newport Bay regional preserve

and a handful of new beach access points dotting the city.

In January 2002, the City Council accepted a 5-foot walkway lining

Newport Harbor in front of the Cannery Restaurant. In the past,

Ridgeway has said he’d like to see it used as a tourist walkway

stretching from Lido Village to the Balboa Bay Club.

Nineteen other walkways have been identified in the plan to fall

under the city’s jurisdiction. If they were not included, they would

revert back to private property ownership.

Also notable, the plan doesn’t offer any zoning changes to the

so-called Banning Ranch property, which is marked for development.

Supporters of the Orange Coast River Park, a large regional open

space project that could include the unincorporated area, have called

for a rezoning of the land.

The plan also does not include the Newport Coast region since that

area already has a coastal plan in place.

The state Coastal Act of 1972 requires cities along the ocean to

create such plans. Newport Beach and Malibu are among only a handful

of cities along the coastline yet to adopt one.

Newport Beach has slowly made attempts since the 1980s to

undertake the huge project, but only really got started in early 2002

when the city created an ad hoc committee to begin reviewing the

issues and drafting the document.

Mayor Steve Bromberg and Councilman Don Webb also sat on that

committee.

The plan has stirred little controversy, in stark contrast to the

city’s General Plan update.

Bob Caustin, a local environmental activist, said he hasn’t seen

the preliminary draft, however he said he supports local control of

coastal planning, with a caveat.

“We didn’t get involved in it,” Caustin said about the coastal

planning effort. “Local control has to be here, but I think we need

to have some oversight from the Coastal Commission.”

Once the commission approves the coastal plan, the city would be

able to issue building permits to local residents who want to mount a

project along the coastline. Any city approval could be appealed to

the Coastal Commission.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

paul.clinton@latimes.com.