Newport Is Seeking Same Coastal Strip That Irvine Wants

Landlocked Irvine has long held a dream of having a corridor to the sea.

But city officials may have to go toe to toe with Newport Beach if they ever hope to have an Irvine city beach.

The Newport Beach City Council this week voted to reaffirm and extend its control over a three-mile strip of prime undeveloped coastal property between the city’s southern border and Laguna Beach. If the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission agrees to expand Newport Beach’s sphere of influence over the pastoral area, it would seal off the city of Irvine’s last potential link with the Pacific.

More important, Newport Beach officials contend, it would all but guarantee that the lucrative Irvine Coast development--the Irvine Co.’s 9,400-acre residential, hotel, office and parkland project planned for the strip--would eventually become part of their city, not Irvine, as leaders in the latter city would prefer.

Officials in neither city would speculate on the monetary benefits of the development. But with 2,600 homes, four resort hotels and two 18-hole golf courses planned for the gently rolling terrain with sweeping views of the Pacific, it is believed that the development is a jewel neither municipality can afford to pass up.

Irvine officials said Tuesday that if Newport Beach’s sphere is extended, that city will have a decided edge in annexing the territory, even though the project’s developer must approve any annexation proposal.

A spokeswoman for the Irvine Co., the county’s largest landowner and a major developer, said the firm has no position on which city should claim the Irvine coast.

About 4,000 acres of the unincorporated territory between Corona de Mar and Laguna Beach is already in Newport Beach’s sphere of influence--a designation that usually precedes annexation. Ken Delino, assistant to the Newport Beach city manager, said the city will seek to add the remaining 6,000 acres Dec. 2, when it takes its case before LAFCO, the agency that makes decisions on jurisdictional boundaries and disputes between municipalities. He said a ruling on the city’s request is not expected before a public hearing early next year.

Delino said it makes more sense for Newport Beach to be given control over the area because existing services, such as police and fire agencies, are nearby. A range of rolling hills separates the heart of the Irvine and the huge coastal development planned by the Irvine Co.

Nonetheless, Irvine officials were predictably upset Tuesday at Newport Beach’s move to gain control of the coastal strip. Irvine Assistant City Manager Paul Brady Jr. said the city is “not ready to give up its option” of acquiring some coastal property or influence over the Irvine Coast development, which goes before the county Board of Supervisors for final approval Dec. 2.

At Tuesday night’s regularly scheduled meeting, the Irvine City Council was to discuss what action to take.

With grading on the project expected to begin next summer, Delino said Newport Beach planners have already drawn up preliminary plans to link water and sewer lines with the planned development.

“There are so many overwhelming reasons as to why that project fits into Newport Beach,” Delino said. “It is clearly within the city’s gravitational pull, and the area will share the same coastal concerns and interests. It would be hard to imagine this city not annexing that area.”

The northern portion of the area has been under Newport Beach’s control since 1976, when county officials decided that the city could more easily provide sewer and water services to the area.

Longtime Newport Beach City Councilwoman Evelyn R. Hart called Irvine’s dreams a coastal opening a classic case of “land grabbing.” She said Irvine has no real ties to the coast and is interested only in “gaining some status.”

Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said Tuesday that he was surprised at Newport’s action the night before and that Irvine would take appropriate action to respond, but he would not elaborate. He said the Newport Beach action was “regretable and violated the city of Irvine’s right to expand its boundaries.”

Most of the new area that Newport Beach wants borders Laguna Beach and is not targeted for development. It contains the 2,800-acre Crystal Cove State Park and 2,650 additional acres of land that the Irvine Co. plans to donate for parks or permanent wilderness.

That portion was once within Laguna Beach’s sphere of influence. But it was removed in 1980, and Laguna Beach city officials now say they have no interest in taking it back.