Newport Beach : Variance Denied on China House Property

The Newport Beach City Council again has denied a building code variance request by two of the purchasers of the China House.

After a public hearing Monday night, the council voted 4 to 3 to sustain a Planning Commission denial of a variance on the roof line of the proposed home of Donna and Ernest Schroeder.

The Schroeders, one of the two couples who have purchased the venerable salmon and green, pagoda-style house at the mouth of Newport Harbor had requested that they be allowed to build a home on the site exceeding the city’s height limitations. Two homes are scheduled to be built on the oceanfront property, where the China House has stood for over half a century.

When the plan was rejected in July, Jim and Martha Beauchamp, who purchased the property with the Schroeders and plan to build on the other half of the site, had their home redesigned to conform to the city’s building code.

City planners made an informal recommendation that the council refuse the Schroeders’ variance after learning that the couple’s architect, Brion Jeannette, has drafted alternate plans for the site, which conform to code.

“Its obvious that a house can be designed (to meet the code specifications)” said city planner Pat Temple. “There’s no need to grant the variance requested,” she said after a Monday afternoon study session.