Council stalls on plan to ease school traffic

Marisa O’Neil

Plans for a new access road at Newport Coast Elementary School to

alleviate traffic congestion were put on hold until the city can ease

the concerns of nearby residents.

The City Council on Tuesday continued two items -- including a bid

award -- that would have allowed work on the new road to begin in

July and finish by the start of school in the fall. The decision came

one night after residents questioned the project’s timeline and

feasibility at a Newport Coast Advisory Committee meeting and

complained they hadn’t been given proper notice of the plan.

“I think everyone recognizes that there’s a problem down there,”

said Newport Coast resident and parent Thomas LeBeau. “I think what

needs to be developed is a comprehensive plan that involves the

community, the school, Newport Coast as a whole and the surrounding

property interests.”

Deborah O’Connor, who lives above the proposed road, said she was

concerned about increased noise and traffic behind her home. The

proposed project would pave a dirt access road allowing cars and

busses from northbound Newport Coast Drive to go around the school’s

athletic field and into the parking lot. That plan came after aerial

photography of the site showed the gridlock during busy drop-off and

pickup times, Public Works Director Steve Badum said.

Residents said at Monday’s meeting that they only recently became

aware of the plan. City Councilman John Heffernan, who attended

Monday’s meeting, said he hadn’t heard about the road either and was

surprised that there was not more outreach done.

Badum apologized on Monday for the lack of notice.

“In our effort to find a solution, we didn’t think a small access

road would be an issue,” he said.

City and school officials hoped to have the project completed

before the fall, when enrollment is expected to grow by 100 students.

Newport Coast Elementary School, like other schools in the district,

will do away with its staggered start and end times, creating more

traffic in the morning and afternoon.

The city will hold a workshop June 21 for residents and parents to

present alternative plans to alleviate the problem. Traffic has been

a problem at the school since it opened in 2001 because the school

has only one entrance. The single entrance off Ridge Park Road causes

long lines of vehicles trying to enter the school to block traffic.

Parents hoping to avoid the crush exacerbate the problem by

dropping children off across the street and allowing them to jaywalk

to the school, residents said at the meeting.

“The queue is so long, people park [across the street],” Newport

Coast resident and parent Jean Donnelly said. “They’d rather risk

their children’s lives [than wait].”

A loop road would allow those cars to drop off children out of the

way of traffic, Badum said. It will cost about $350,000 to build and

will use funds from a 1998 bond secured by mello roos taxes on the

Bonita Canyon development in Newport Beach.

Officials will listen to what parents and residents have to say at

the upcoming workshop and will consider the options, but City Manager

Homer Bludau said he expects the item to be on the council’s June 22

agenda.