Suit Asks Bar to Building of Cancer Center

Newport Beach residents went to court Monday to challenge the city’s approval of a 45,000-square-foot cancer treatment and research facility, claiming that it will spoil their view.

The lawsuit filed by the Villa Balboa Community Assn. also claimed that the city violated state law in failing to consider the center’s effect on traffic congestion and noise pollution.

The cancer research center, planned by Hoag Memorial Hospital, is to be built along Pacific Coast Highway adjacent to the hospital. The City Council approved the structure on Oct. 27.

The lawsuit was filed by an association representing condominium owners adjacent to the construction site. They asked for a court order blocking construction until the city prepares a complete report assessing the impact of the 22-acre parcel’s development on parking, traffic and noise.

The development site runs from the highway up a 60-foot-high bluff. The lawsuit claims that the city failed to consider “the significant adverse environmental effect of the proposed project on the bluff and on the view from the bluff to the ocean.”

During city hearings, some Villa Balboa residents had opposed the three-story facility, which would open in mid-1988 as the largest cancer treatment facility in Orange County.

Hospital officials said the building was designed to be built into the coastal bluff so it would not block ocean views, with the top of the building projecting just a few feet higher than the bluff.

Hoag planned the research facility to provide cancer treatment on an outpatient basis, using state-of-the-art radiation equipment and drug therapy, in addition to offering counseling, research facilities and other services.

The hospital still must receive approval from the state Coastal Commission before construction can begin.