Newport Coast wants pieces of parks

June Casagrande

They’re just four tiny parks -- places to sit with a cup of coffee or

a sandwich and enjoy a view of Buck Gully, Los Trancos Canyon or the

ocean. Newport Coast residents, however, believe these four little

parks now in county hands would be a lot better off in the hands of

Newport Beach officials.

The Newport Coast Advisory Committee next month will consider a

plan to ask the county to hand over four tiny parks within the city

borders: two on San Joaquin Hills Road near Buck Gully, two on

Newport Coast Drive, both north of the Marriott Newport Coast Resort

and overlooking Los Trancos Canyon.

“We feel the city can do a much better job of maintaining those

parks than the county can,” said Dan Wampole, president of the

Newport Ridge Homeowners Assn. and a member of the Newport Coast

Advisory Committee.

For example, Wampole said, for 2 1/2 years, his homeowners

association was paying to maintain the two parks on San Joaquin Hills

Road because the association believed it owned the land. During the

process to annex Newport Coast to the city, however, residents

learned that the parcels in fact both belong to the county and that

the county should have been responsible for maintenance.

Another incentive to take over the parks came earlier this year

when residents noticed a crane installing a cellular tower at one of

the parks on Newport Coast Drive. Some wrote to City Hall in protest

because the city hadn’t sought residents’ input or even notified them

of the site. The park, however, is county land.

“So an added benefit of taking over these parks would be that we

could have more control over cell siting in the future and that we

would get the [rental] revenue if we decided to have them come in,”

Kiff said.

There are no plans to install any more cellular antennas in any of

the parks as far as city officials know, Kiff said.

The Newport Coast Advisory Committee will get the ball rolling on

Monday when they vote on whether to send their request to the

council. If the council likes the plan, it will ask county officials

to consider ceding the small parks, which together add up to less

than four acres, to the city.

Supervisor Tom Wilson, whose district includes the parks, could

not be reached for comment. Kiff said he expects that the hand-over

would be a welcome idea because the county could stop paying to

maintain the parcels.

“We would expect them to transfer it over for free,” Kiff said.

“Right now it costs them more money than it gains them.”