Newport council to consider adding parking for Sunset Ridge Park

Additional parking could be on the horizon for Sunset Ridge Park.

The Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday will consider submitting an application to the California Coastal Commission requesting that the city be allowed to build a public road and parking lot for the park, which opened in 2014.

The 13.7-acre park, located on the bluff at the northwest corner of the Superior Avenue and West Coast Highway intersection, has a baseball diamond, two soccer fields, a playground and a butterfly garden.

However, the space lacks an attached parking lot, which has been a point of consternation for some park users. Currently, visitors park in a public lot across Superior.

“There’s a level of inconvenience felt by some who use the park, especially the sports groups who have to bring a lot of gear,” said city Public Works Director Dave Webb. “They’d prefer having a parking lot closer to the fields.”

An onsite parking lot and an access road were initially proposed when the Coastal Commission first reviewed the park project in 2011. At the time, the city’s application became entangled with larger environmental concerns about the Banning Ranch development proposed on a neighboring parcel.

The city’s proposed access road in 2011 followed the same path as the Banning Ranch development’s main artery, known as Bluff Road, off West Coast Highway.

Because of that, the commissioners were required to consider potential effects on sensitive wildlife, Coastal Commission staff said at the time.

Recognizing that the project could be rejected, city officials submitted an alternate plan without the road and onsite parking lot, which was approved.

Since the Banning Ranch development project, in which Newport Banning Ranch LLC proposes to build 895 homes, a 75-room hotel, a hostel and 45,100 square feet of retail space on about 65 acres of land, is scheduled to be heard by the Coastal Commission in May, city staff decided the time was right to again consider a parking lot.

If the Banning Ranch project is approved, it could open the door for the city to attach an access road to Bluff Road. The city’s road would then lead to a parking lot adjacent to the Sunset Ridge sports fields, plans show.

The city’s access road and 92-space parking lot would still need to be approved by the Coastal Commission before construction could begin. The process would likely take more than two years, Webb said.

The City Council on Tuesday also will consider entering an agreement with T.Y. Lin International, a planning, design and construction engineering consulting firm, to complete a conceptual design for nearby Lower Sunset View Park, located across Superior from the larger Sunset Ridge Park.

If the agreement is approved, the city would pay T.Y. Lin International up to $429,995 to develop three conceptual designs for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge that would connect the two parks across Superior, a parking lot or structure and a dog park on the Lower Sunset View site.

The Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission previously identified the undeveloped lower portion of Sunset View Park as an opportunity for a new dog park.

The designs would then be presented to the community, the council and commission for input. The process likely will take several years.

“We want to look at what park amenities would work well over there,” Webb said. “Once we have the nuts and bolts, we can start going after funding.”