Neighbors’ views getting stuck in a jut

Alicia Robinson

Like a much slower sort of tide, a line of homes is beginning to

advance along the bluffs in Corona del Mar.

Ocean Boulevard homeowner Doug Circle’s house will be among them,

but it won’t be the first. Circle won approval from the Newport Beach

City Council Tuesday to tear down his existing house and build a

bigger one that extends slightly beyond the city’s height limit.

The Planning Commission in January approved the bigger home on the

condition that two of its decks be shortened, so they don’t project

as far out from the bluff. Neighbor Lynne Butterfield appealed to the

City Council, arguing that the new house would spoil the public’s

views from Inspiration Point and Corona del Mar State Beach as well

as her own view because one deck would project about eight feet

beyond adjacent decks.

The city has regulations on how far back from a property line a

building must sit and how tall it can be, but not how far out it can

jut from a sloped property like those on Ocean Boulevard.

The existing bluff-side homes along that stretch of Ocean

Boulevard roughly line up with one another, and Butterfield wanted to

keep it that way.

“We have a significant invasion of privacy [with the proposed

deck],” said Tom Allen, who represented Butterfield at Tuesday’s

council meeting. “This is a significant departure from what’s there

now.”

The council’s dilemma was its dual role as a steward of the

environmentally sensitive bluffs and a protector of residents’

property rights. The case was a complicated one including all sorts

of factors. For example, council members were wary of setting a

precedent for projecting buildings by approving Circle’s plans, but

they can’t deny a homeowner a building permit to protect someone

else’s private view.

“What’s happening is we’re seeing a new line of development being

established and people who don’t like the new line asking [the

council] to assist them in their resistance,” said attorney Sherman

Stacey, who represented Circle.

The city is working on a clearly defined policy on how far out

buildings can project from the bluffs, but the policy is part of a

plan awaiting approval from the Coastal Commission, a process that

could take at least a year. Council members debated whether they

should set new rules, or if the existing height limit is enough. They

ultimately avoided making any sweeping new policies, which led some

people to expect more homeowners to mansionize their bluff-side

houses.

“Every house has to be bigger and more in-your-face than the one

before,” resident Robert Walchli told the council. “You’ve refused in

the past to take responsible action to protect the [public’s] views,

and this is the result.”

Before the new home can be built, it must be approved by the

Coastal Commission, which has a reputation for being rigid when it

comes to coastal development but has recently approved two other

homes along the same bluff that will jut out farther than Circle’s.

The city already had approved those homes.

“What’s really interesting is that the line of development has

changed and people aren’t seeing that, and they aren’t willing to

accept that,” said Brion Jeannette, the architect who designed

Circle’s new home.

When it came time to vote, council members at first were all over

the map. They ended up approving Circle’s plans with a minor change,

but some were still scratching their heads over which direction the

city should go on the bluffs issue.

“I don’t know how you deal with this situation, quite frankly,”

Mayor Steve Bromberg said. “We do have the [height] rule, but we

don’t all agree on what the rule should be or what it should do....

The question is, do we want to have a separate rule just for the

bluffs.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson

@latimes.com.