St. Andrew’s expansion goes too far I...

St. Andrew’s expansion goes too far

I would like to address a letter in the July 13 Mailbag debating

the merits of the densities of other large projects in comparison

with the proposed St. Andrew’s church expansion project.

In order for one to begin to understand why the surrounding

neighborhoods of Newport Heights and Cliff Haven are so vehemently

opposed to the proposed expansion in the context of its residential

setting, one need not look any further than our city of Newport

Beach’s general plan.

A floor-area ratio is a factor used extensively by city and county

planning departments to measure and regulate the intensity or density

of a development project. Simply put, it is the total building area

of a project divided by the area of its site. A 50,000-square-foot

building on a 100,000-square-foot site (about 2.3 acres) would

therefore equate to a ratio of 1 to 2.

There are 19 sites in our city designated as Governmental

Educational Institutional Facilities, of which churches are included

as a use. This is the change in zoning that is being processed for

the site from its current residential zoning.

Of these 19 sites, only Hoag Hospital and Kerchoff Marine Lab are

allowed to have base densities or ratios exceeding 1 to 2. All the

other sites, which includes schools, libraries and churches range

from 1 to 10 (Mariners Elementary School among several others) to a

maximum of 0.5 (Newport Harbor High School and the Balboa Library

among them).

St. Andrew’s Church campus today has a floor area ratio of 61 to

100 and is proposing a “compromise” that results in 125,500 square

feet equating to a ratio of 73 to 100, more dense than Newport Harbor

High School. Furthermore, although below-grade parking structures are

not counted when calculating a floor-area ratio, when the proposed

two-level, below-grade parking structure is included, the total

project area would total nearly 250,000 square feet.

For those of us in the development community and those of us who

are not, it is apparent that further expansion is far from reasonable

and one that all residents in Newport Beach should be concerned with

as a potentially dangerous and negative planning precedent. It’s time

for the City Council to hold the line on maintaining the quality of

life in our residential neighborhoods.

JIM TRAMMELL

Newport Beach

Rohrabacher earns straight-up backing

I agree with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on not giving foreign aid to

Ethiopia. I believe as Dr. Phil says, “You teach people how to treat

you,” and we’ve given aid to so many countries, and it goes to build

mansions and ships for their dictators, and I think we’re stupid to

keep letting them make fun of us, and that’s all they do.

So as he says, you teach people how to treat you, when they get by

with it they think, “Oh they’re suckers; we can do this; we can do

that.”

So I think Rohrabacher should stay firm on his belief and not give

aid to Ethiopia till they straighten up and fly right.

NORMA BRADFORD

Costa Mesa