Newport Beach : Coast Panel to Consider Kayak and Canoe Center

The Newport Aquatic Center, a facility for kayak and canoe instruction, will be considered for approval by the California Coastal Commission today.

A nonprofit corporation, also named the Newport Aquatic Center, and the city are proposing to build the 18,288-square-foot center at North Star Beach in the Upper Newport Bay.

The center would be open to the public, as well as to Olympic-class rowers, said Ron Whitley, director of the city’s Parks, Beaches and Recreation Department.

If the Coastal Commission grants approval, the city and the nonprofit corporation would have to reach an agreement over leasing of the property.

“It’s a pretty creative concept, really,” Whitley said. Two years ago, voters authorized the city to lease the property to the Newport Aquatic Center for the project.

Plans call for it to be used entirely by self-powered craft, Whitley said.

The city has limited the use of the center to 250 people daily, said Dana Privitt, assistant planner for a Newport Beach consulting firm working on the project. However, Coastal Commission officials have required that 20% of the use be reserved for walk-in patrons.

“This is not a private club,” Privitt said.

Plans call for land-based structures and a dock. Three indoor storage bays would total 6,720 square feet, Privitt said. An upper level would have a 1,052-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment for a caretaker. The city had required that a caretaker live at the site to deter vandalism and after-hours use.