City says hello to Heights residents

West Santa Ana Heights is now a part of Newport Beach, but residents are going to have to wait awhile before it says so on their mail.

City officials said they have notified the United States Postal Service of the change, but the federal agency could take a while to switch addresses.

“The federal government sort of works on its own timeline for that stuff, but all in good time,” said Tim Stokes, vice chairman of the Project Advisory Committee.

Officials have said that the new Newport neighborhood, which officially joined Newport on Tuesday, could wait as long as July to get a new ZIP code. Many in the area pushed for annexation because a coveted Newport Beach ZIP code could boost their property values, Stokes said.

The 83-acre, once unincorporated neighborhood had longed for annexation for almost 10 years, said Barbara Venezia, Santa Ana Heights Project Advisory Committee chairwoman.

“This is a banner day for us, to see one of its largest, hardest projects come to fruition,” Venezia said.

One thing the new Newport residents will notice almost immediately is stricter code enforcement of regulations such as fence height and where residents can park their cars, Venezia said. Before today, Newport Beach officials were working in the area, but enforcing Orange County codes, which are a bit more lax than those of Newport Beach, she said.

“As funny as it may seem, those issues like whether you can park your car on your lawn sometimes divided a community,” Stokes said. “Now we have services that will help mitigate those things.”

West Santa Ana Heights business owner and Project Advisory Committee member Ted Nichols said he doesn’t think stricter codes and regulations will affect his dog kennel business, although noise such as barking could be more closely monitored now that his kennels are inside the city limits.

“We always get raves and kudos, so I don’t think it will matter,” said Nichols, who has run Sunrun Kennels in West Santa Ana Heights for the past 12 years.

East Santa Ana Heights became part of Newport Beach in 2003, but the annexation of the Western part of the neighborhood unites the two communities into one again, Stokes said.

“It will help solidify the neighborhood, because it we won’t be known as east and west,” Stokes said.

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission voted in July 2007 to approve annexation of the 83-acre, unincorporated neighborhood.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.