Aerie going back to council

After five Planning Commission meetings and two Newport Beach City Council hearings, plans for a clutch of luxury condos on a coastal bluff in Corona del Mar that have divided neighbors are headed back to the council for a third time next month.

A few residents have formed a group called Residents for Responsible Development to oppose the development. The group’s website, www.rfrd.info, includes a petition to stop the project.

Some residents believe the project, slated to take the place of a run-down apartment building and house, will benefit the neighborhood.

Others say the project will compromise the bluff, which is visible from Newport Harbor.

“I care about it because I care about the bluff,” said Corona del Mar resident Jinx Hansen, who has lived in the neighborhood for the past 12 years. “I’ve seen in Corona del Mar more and more frequently, people applying for bigger set backs and variances — I’ve just seen the character of the neighborhood change. When they start messing with the bluff, it’s one of the few coastal land forms we have left.”

Hansen and others are concerned the project will excavate a large chunk of the bluff and change the landscape of the neighborhood.

“If there is any bluff left, you’re not going to see it. You’re going to look at massive building,” she said.

Corona del Mar resident Melinda McCallum said she’s concerned about the effect construction of the condominiums will have on her neighborhood, and the truckloads of dirt from excavation that might have to be hauled past her house.

“I worry about the impact on the community,” McCallum said. “It’s quite a large project, and where are they going to stage all of these workers and trucks?”

Land developer Richard Julian has had dreams of turning a 60-year-old apartment building and house on Carnation Avenue into a luxury condominium complex called the Aerie since he bought the property seven years ago.

The project has since run into a maze of governmental hearings, environmental documentation and feuds with some of the neighbors who oppose the development.

“I’m a bit frustrated with some of the things that have been said, because they are not accurate, but more beyond that some of the things have gotten a bit personal,” Julian said.

The luxury condominiums would have private decks and pools for each unit and an elevator to take cars to underground levels. The developer originally planned a seven-story building on the spot, but has modified the plans to make the building six levels.

Julian contends the project would actually improve the ocean views of his neighbors, and be built higher up on the coastal bluff than the existing apartment building, leaving more of the landmass visible from the water.

“They will use the word ‘massive’ in everything,” Julian said, referring to the opposition residents group. “Aerie is not massive — it’s probably going to look smaller that what is there today, and we’ve almost doubled the public view corridor.”

Julian said he knows construction would disrupt the neighborhood, but he’s even offered to have one of his neighbor’s cars washed when the project gets underway.

Corona del Mar resident Kent Moore, who lives across the street from the site of the proposed development, said he is in favor of the Aerie project. He once lived in the old apartment building that is slated to come down, which he calls “a big eyesore.”

“It would raise the property values and be drop-dead gorgeous,” Moore said. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation and understanding about the project.”

The City Council is expected to take up the matter at its July 14 meeting, Julian said.