NEWPORT BEACH City Council questions councilman’s comments...

NEWPORT BEACH

City Council questions councilman’s comments

City Councilman Dick Nichols caught flack for comments at a recent

Planning Commission meeting and he could even end up getting

censured. The councilman had told commissioners that one of their

decisions seemed so wrong that it looked like someone might have

accepted a bribe.

Environmentalists and proponents of a senior housing project faced

off this week in a battle over Bayview Landing. The Coastal

Commission will decide on June 11 whether wetlands plants at the site

should spell doom for 150 units of senior affordable housing.

Old Corona del Mar residents were pleased to learn that they

remain in one council district. Newport Coast and Newport Ridge

however, will be split up between districts 6 and 7.

A $30-million state-of-the-art City Hall complex could be on the

distant horizon, but it will have to clear a lot of hurdles first.

Council members will consider at their first meeting in June whether

to hire a consultant to draw up schematic designs of a possible new

building.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.

EDUCATION

School board adopts behavior policy for adults

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees

approved a new board policy on civility. The policy, created by a

task force of principals, parents and district administrators,

defines appropriate and civil behavior on the part of parents,

employees and spectators while at school or district events and lays

out consequences and procedures for those who display unlawful or

uncivil behavior.

Only the second conductor to lead the Orange Coast College

Symphony Orchestra in its 42-year history, Alan Remington, who began

teaching at the college in 1977 and took over as conductor of its

60-piece symphony orchestra in the mid-1980s, will retire next month.

Remington has taught courses ranging from fundamentals of music to

orchestra, and has acted as musical director for two of OCC’s summer

shows, “Pacific Overtures” and “South Pacific.”

On Wednesday afternoon, fourth- and fifth-grade students at

California Elementary School in Costa Mesa participated in their

final Neighborhood Conservatory acting class of the year. The

students showcased the acting skills they had acquired from the after

school class, funded by the South Coast Repertory, for their parents

with a performance that included all of the exercises they had

learned.

After 18 years, Sister Joanne Clare Gallagher will retire as

principal of Our Lady Queen of Angels School in Newport Beach at the

end of the year. Looking ahead toward future endeavors in parish

work, Gallagher will leave behind a 50-year career in education.

Former Co-Principal Eileen Ryan, will take over as principal of the

school for the upcoming year.

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.

COSTA MESA

Commission approves new design guidelines

Harmony is out, but compatibility is still in the revised zoning

code and residential design guidelines for home expansions. The

Planning Commission approved the changes Tuesday after a few months

of review. The changes will now go to the City Council.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Former pastor pleads not guilty to molestation

A former Costa Mesa pastor on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to

molesting a local teenager 25 years ago.

The Orange County district attorney last month charged Denis

Lyons, 68, with one count of performing a lewd act with a child and

four counts of oral copulation. Costa Mesa police arrested Lyons on

April 25 in his Seal Beach home.

Lyons spent all of his years as a priest in Los Angeles and Orange

counties, but remained the longest time in St. John the Baptist

Catholic Church on Baker Street -- between October 1978 and January 1996.

Prosecutors say the victim was about 13 years old in 1979 when the

alleged crimes happened. Catholic Church officials said Lyons had

admitted to “improper behavior” with adults in the past, but never

with children or young adults. Lyons had made that admission in 1979

when he was a pastor at the Costa Mesa church. He was evaluated at

the time and determined to be “not at risk,” officials said.

Lyons is free on a $100,000 bail. A pretrial hearing is scheduled

for June 24.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.