Housing plans worry Newport

Council takes hard look at proposal to build residential units just across border in Irvine. A proposal that would allow thousands of new housing units just across Newport Beach’s border in the Irvine Business Complex has Newport officials asking what it will mean for their city: More traffic? Crowded parks?

Irvine officials are mulling a plan to add residential zoning that would transform the business complex into a combination of housing and workplaces. An environmental study found the plan would not have any significant effects on the area.

Newport planners question that conclusion, and the Newport Beach City Council will decide tonight whether to hire a legal expert to look for holes in Irvine’s analysis.

It appears that developments already allowed by Irvine authorities would add about 8,000 new housing units in the Irvine Business Complex on Jamboree Road, and approval is pending for another 5,000 units, said Newport Beach City Atty. Robin Clauson.

The new residential zoning plan, called an overlay, mentions about 10,000 new housing units, but it’s not clear whether that figure includes those already approved and in the planning stages, Clauson said.

Either way, a bundle of new housing could change the traffic patterns on Newport’s roads -- especially Jamboree Road -- and pack more residents into the city’s two parks closest to the complex, Bonita Creek and Bonita Canyon.

More housing in Irvine also has the potential to snarl Newport’s plans to someday add residential development around John Wayne Airport.

The two cities created a “borders committee” to discuss exactly these kinds of issues, and it has met twice. But Newport Beach officials said they’ve tried, to no avail, to get answers from Irvine.

“We’re concerned enough to hire legal counsel to look at this,” Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said.

Like all cities, Irvine is required by state law to study the potential effects of developments and, in some cases, take steps to lessen them. Daigle doesn’t think the city has adequately done that.

“Our fundamental concern is they’ve been cavalier in their application of these environmental laws,” Daigle said. “Our whole interest is in protecting and maintaining our quality of life.”

If Newport wants to hire a legal expert to scrutinize Irvine’s plans, Irvine Mayor Beth Krom said it’s fine with her. Daigle and Krom both are on the joint-borders committee.

“I would expect them to do that anyway,” Krom said. “This is a public process on the overlay, so we certainly welcome the input.”

With 80,000 people a day coming to work in the business complex, the goal for the business complex is to balance the jobs with residences, which could potentially ease traffic, she said.

Krom said she couldn’t say whether more study of the residential development plan is needed without knowing exactly what Newport Beach is concerned about.

But she added: “We will apply the same diligent standards to our plan in the Irvine Business Complex that are being applied throughout our city.”